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MEMORANDA 


CONCERNING 


SHELDON  JACKSON 


AND   THE 


MODERATORSHIP 


OF  THE 


109th  General  Assembly 


OF  THE 


Presbyterian  Church   in   the  United  States 
*^  of  America. 


WINONA  ASSEMBLY  GROUNDS, 

EAGLE  LAKE,  INDIANA, 

MAY  20-28, 1897. 


KOR    PRIVATE     CIRCUIvATION. 


philadelphia  : 
MacCalla  &  Company  Incorporated. 


^^  3ZS 


CONTENTS. 


Forecast  op  the  Moderatorship  :  ^^°^ 

Times-Herald,  Chicago    .   . 

Herald  and  Presbyter,  Cincinnati.'  .   .' s  7 

Dispatch,  Pittsburgh '  '° 

Gen.  John  Eaton,  Washington  .   .'  .'  ....'.'.".'.' "^ 

The  Election:                                                ''^ 

Account  of  New  York  Evangelist.  ...  ,. 

"    Washington  Post i7>  29 

^1         "    Chicago  Times-Herald "  .' 1° 

^            '    Chicago  Interior , 

"    New  York  Observer ......''  If 

Nomination  Addresses  :  

H.  J.  Morrison 

George  L.  Spining,  D.D 35 

Rev.  Richard  M.  Hayes  .   .      ^5 

George  W.  McMillan.  D.D '•'.'.'.'..'.'.'.'.'. '*'' 

Congratulations:                                                    "^ 

Adams,  Rev.  Robert  N.   D  D 

Allen,  Rev.  Arthur  H   .              57 

Baer,  John  Willis   ...                  57 

Bailey,  Mrs.  Charles  L.    ..'.'. 58 

Baker,  Rev.  Enos  P             .              5= 

Booth,  Rev.  Henrv  M.,  D.D.'  LL  D ^9 

Brady,  Hon.  John  G 59 

Burdick,  Rev.  Newman  H |9 

Campbell,  Mrs.  Isabella  .  .          ?° 

Childs,  Rev.  T.  S.,  D.D °° 

Cleland,  Rev.  Thomas  H.   D  D       ?^ 

Cochran,  Thomas   ...                           °^ 

Cook,  Mrs.  John  R  .  .       . °^ 

Craighead,  Mrs.  Jamea  G  !  !   ". ^^ 

Craighead,  Miss  Alice            .           ^^ 

Crocker,  Rev.  J.  N.,  D.D.    .   .           5^ 

Dickson,  Mrs.  Cyrus        .    .   .* P 

Dickson,  Miss  Margaret        ^ 

Doty,  William  F  .  .   .       .          °4 

Education,  U.  S.  Bureau  of.  !  ! y^ 

Fletcher,  Miss  Alice  C  .   .                  "   •  55 

Gage,  Rev.  John  L °5 

Green,  A.  W °° 

Gwynne,  Rev.  F.  H.,  D.D P 

Haehnle,  Rev.  C.  A.  .              °7 

Hamilton,  William  .  .  '.      fl 

Hamlin,  Rev.  Teunis  S.,  D.D   '. ri 

Held,  John  G.      .    .                             °^ 

Hilton,  Miss  Olga °9 

Hughes,  Mrs.  Melancttion.    .'  .' ?^ 

James,  Hon.  Darwin  R.  .                           9 

Kerr,  Prof.  James  D  .   .   .          7o 

Kirkwood,  Rev.  Thomas  C,  D.D ~° 

Lee,  Rev.  E.  Trumbull,  D.D  ...      ^i 

71 


PAGE. 

McCall,  Miss  Ida  M 72 

McGaughey,  Rev.  Johnston 72 

McMillan,  Rev.  Duncan  J.,  D.D 72 

McNulty,  Rev.  Joseph  M.,  D.D 72 

Mann,  Rev.  M.  G 73 

Marsden,  Edward  S 73 

Martin,  John  C.          ...       74 

Miller,  Rev.  William  S 74 

Millig:an,  Rev.  James  V 74 

Morris,  Edward  D.,  D.D.,  LL.D 75 

Korcross,  Rev.  George,  D.D 76 

Patterson,  Rev.  R.  M.,  D.D.,  LL.D 76 

Peele,  Judge  Stanton  J 77 

Quaiffe.  Alfred  R 77 

Radcliffe.  Rev.  Wallace,  D.D 77 

Reid,  Rev.  John  G.,  Ph.D 77 

Revnolds,  Rev.  Clarence  G.,  D.D 78 

Richardson,  Rev.  C.  H.,  D.D 79 

Roach,  Mrs.  C.  L 79 

Roberts,  James  B 79 

Robinson,  Rev.  Thomas  H.,  D.D,  LL.  D 80 

Schaff,  Rev.  David  S.,  D.D 81 

Sheldon,  Mrs.  Henry 82 

Stephenson,  Miss  Florence 82 

Thompson,  Rev.  Charles  L.,  D.D.,  LL.D S3 

Thompson,  Rev.  W.  O.,  D.D 83 

Wadhams,  William     84 

Weidman.  Rev.  Jacob 84 

"Willard,  Miss  Frances  E 84 

Worrall,  William.  ...       85 

The  Press: 

New  York  Tribune 89 

Chicago  Times-Herald 90 

Troy  Daily  Times 94 

Altoona  Tribune 95 

Herald  and  Presbyter 97 

The  Moravian 98 

Christian  Intelligencer 99 

New  York  Independent 99 

Methodist  Woman's  Home  Mission  Magazine 99 

New  York  Evangelist 99 

New  York  Observer loi 

Presbyterian  Journal 105 

Christian  Herald 107 

Chicago  Interior 108 

New  York  Pilot 109 

Treasury  Magazine no 

Forward m 

Chicago  Ram's  Horn 114 

The  Church  at  Home  and  Abroad 115 

The  Converted  Catholic 116 

Rev.  William  H.  Roberts,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  in  the  Presbyterian  and 

Reformed  Review 116 

Prese>"t.\tion  of  G.wel  : 

Address  of  Ex-President  Benjamin  Harrison 121 

Presentation  of  Historical  Cane: 

By  Elder  E.  K.  Polk 126 


THE  FORECAST. 


FORECAST. 


[Chicago  Times-Herald,  May  9,  J897.] 

THE  109th  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  which  will  meet  on  May  20 
at  Winona  Park,  on  Eagle  Lake,  near  War- 
saw, Ind.,  will  be  in  many  respects  the  greatest 
ever  held  in  the  history  of  the  Church.  It  is  ex- 
pected that  there  will  be  5000  ministers  and  lay 
members  of  the  Church  present,  a  larger  attend- 
ance than  at  any  previous  meeting.  Six  hundred 
official  commissioners  will  be  present  from  the 
various  Presbyteries,  the  number  being  equally 
divided  between  ministers  and  laymen.  Every 
section  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  the  Foreign 
Missions  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  will  be  represented.  The  As- 
sembly will  continue  in  session  until  May  31. 

A  friendly  contest  for  the  Moderatorship  has 
already  been  begun.  No  lay  member  of  the 
Church  has  ever  occupied  the  chair  of  the  presid- 
ing officer  at  the  annual  convocation,  but  at  the 
coming  meeting  this  precedent  may  be  broken. 

7 


8  FORECAST. 

Many  of  the  commissioners  favor  the  election  of  a 
layman  as  Moderator.  Four  candidates  have  been 
prominently  mentioned  for  the  office.  The  two 
laymen  suggested  are  ex-President  Harrison  and 
John  Wanamaker,  of  Philadelphia.  Dr.  Henry 
C.  Minton,  of  San  Anselmo,  Cal.,  and  Dr.  Shel- 
don Jackson,  Commissioner  of  Education  for 
Alaska,  are  the  ministerial  candidates.  Dr.  Jack- 
son is  a  most  interesting  character.  For  forty 
years  he  has  occupied  the  position  of  missionary 
for  the  Church  in  the  territories  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  in  Alaska.  It  was  Dr.  Jackson  who 
introduced  reindeer  in  Alaska  from  Lapland  for 
the  purpose  of  solving  the  food  problem. 


[Herald  and  Presbyter,  May  5,  1897.] 

WE  have  already  noted  the  nomination  of  Dr. 
H.  C.  Minton,  of  California,  and  have 
quoted  some  of  the  reasons  advanced  in  his 
behalf.  He  is  a  strong,  efficient,  reliable  man, 
and  would  fill  the  office  admirably. 

We  have  also  noted  the  nomination  of  ex-Presi- 
dent Harrison,  a  man  whom  not  only  Presby- 
terians, but  Americans  generally,  delight  to 
honor 

We  have  also  noted  the  nomination  of  Dr. 
Sheldon  Jackson,  of  Alaska.  Dr.  Jackson  is 
known  to  as  many  ministers  and  elders  as  any 
man  in  the  Church.     Letters  received  by  us  in 


FORECAST.  9 

the  same  mail  from  the  East  and  West  propose 
him  for  the  Moderatorship.  The  reasons  assigned 
are  his  long  record  of  useful  service  and  his  quali- 
fications for  the  office. 

Another  nomination  vigorously  urged  in  some 
quarters  is  that  of  Dr.  Robert  F.  Sample,  of  New- 
York.  Dr.  Sample  has  a  long  record  of  service 
both  in  the  East  and  West,  and  would  fill  the 
office  well. 

Since  the  above  was  written,  we  have  learned 
that  the  friends  of  Mr.  John  Wanamaker,  of 
Philadelphia,  have  nominated  him. 


[Pittsburgh  Despatch,  May  15,  1897,] 

THE  Assembly  will  be  opened  on  Thursday 
morning  with  a  sermon  by  the  Moderator, 
Rev.  Dr.  Withrow. 
Thursday  afternoon  the  roll  will  be  made  out, 
and  the  Moderator  elected.  The  nominating 
speeches  are  expected  to  be  of  a  vermilion  tinge. 
Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Minton  will  be  urged  on  the 
ground  that  the  office  should  go  to  the  Pacific 
coast.  His  personal  following  is  large,  and  the 
Washington  and  Jefferson  men  will  support  him 
solidly,  unless  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  F.  Sample,  of 
New  York,  should  be  named  and  divide  the  vote. 
Dr.  Minton  is  well  backed  up  by  the  Pacific  coast, 
the  Pennsylvania  and  the  Kentucky  delegations, 
and  his  prospects  are  roseate. 


lo  FORECAST. 

Rev.  Dr,  Sheldon  Jackson,  whose  name  is  talis- 
manic,  and  whose  career  of  forty  years  in  the 
Home  Mission  work,  mostly  in  the  Rocky  Mount- 
ains, reads  like  a  romance,  will  be  placed  in  nom- 
ination by  one  of  the  leading  orators  of  the 
Church,  "the  Plumed  Knight,"  in  a  speech  which 
the  friends  of  Dr.  Jackson  hope  will  carry  the  As- 
sembly off  its  feet,  and  place  Dr.  Jackson  in  the 
Moderator's  chair  with  a  whirl.  In  the  life  and 
work  of  this  distinguished  missionary  there  is 
basis  for  a  fervid  speech. 

Ex-President  Harrison  and  Hon.  John  Wana- 
maker,  and  the  elders  generall}^,  are  now  practi- 
cally out  of  the  race.  The  contest  is  narrowed 
down,  in  the  judgment  of  the  best  judges,  to 
Minton  and  Jackson.  Dr.  Jackson  celebrates  his 
sixty-third  birthday  anniversary  next  Tuesday, 
while  Dr.  Minton  celebrated  his  forty-second  last 
Saturday.  Both  men  were  born  in  the  month  of 
May  and  have  the  same  horoscope. 


[Herald  and  Presbyter,  Cincinnati,  May  19,  J897.] 

THE  Michigan  Presbyterian,  discussing  the 
Moderatorship  of  the  Assembly,  says : 
"  The  names  already  mentioned  include  Dr. 
Robert  F.  Sample,  of  New  York;  Dr.  J.  Wilbur 
Chapman,  of  Philadelphia;  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson, 
of  Alaska,  and  Rev.  Henry  C.  Minton,  D.D.,  of 
San  Francisco." 


FORECAST.  II 

The  Presbyterian  Messenger  is  not  in  favor  of 
an  elder  Moderator.     It  adds: 

"The  name  of  Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D., 
grows  in  prominence  as  a  candidate  representing 
our  home  missionary  enterprise  in  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church." 

The  NortJi  and  West  says : 

"  Speaking  of  Moderators,  the  head  of  the  New 
York  delegation  would  make  a  good  one.  Dr. 
Sample  came  to  St.  Anthony  Falls  in  1866  as  a 
home  missionary.  As  the  head  of  the  home 
Mission  Committee  in  Minnesota,  and  pastor 
of  Westminster  for  a  score  of  years,  he  did  more 
to  strengthen  our  Church  throughout  the  North- 
west than  will  ever  be  known." 

The  Presbyterian  is  pleased  with  the  nomina- 
tion of  Dr.  Minton. 

An  important  document  bearing  on  the  ques- 
tion is  the  circular  sent  out  by  Dr.  John  Eaton, 
of  Washington,  D.  C,  urging  the  claims  of  Dr. 
Sheldon  Jackson. 


[Presbyterian  Banner,  Pittsburgh,  May  5,  1897.] 

WE  hear  on  all  hands  that  the  great  burdens  of 
our  Church  are  the  debts  of  our  Mission- 
ary Boards.     The  questions  connected  with 
missions,  especially  Home  Missions,  must  demand 
particular  attention  at  our  next  General  Assem- 


12  FORECAST. 

bly.  The  mission  spirit  is  needed  to  inspire  and 
lead  us.  We  should  avail  ourselves  of  all  lessons 
of  this  experience  at  our  command.  It  is,  per- 
haps, with  this  thought  in  mind,  that  so  many 
have  suggested  Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.,  as 
the  proper  candidate  for  Moderator. 

Not  a  few  know  that  in  beginning  in  the 
service  of  the  Foreign  Board  his  health  failed, 
and  he  was  transferred  to  the  Home  Board,  and 
located  in  Minnesota.  Next  September  he 
rounds  out  forty  years  of  mission  service,  much 
of  it  performed  under  most  trying  circumstances; 
but  altogether  with  results  in  establishing  schools 
and  churches,  during  the  first  half  of  that  period 
in  the  valleys  and  among  the  mountains  between 
Canada  and  Mexico,  which  can  hardly  be  defi- 
nitely enumerated.  We  can  name  the  Presby- 
teries and  Synods  which  have  been  formed 
there;  but  no  one  would  undertake  to  enumer- 
ate the  souls  gathered  into  the  kingdom  of 
the  Lord  from  that  vast  region  in  which  he 
was  pioneer;  again,  no  one  has  numbered  the 
ministers  and  teachers  who  have  risen  up  in  it  for 
the  Home  and  Foreign  service,  or  counted  the 
moneys  that  have  come  from  it  to  the  treasuries 
of  our  Boards.  There  are  those  who  will  not  for- 
get how,  at  his  own  risk,  through  the  publication 
of  the  Rocky  Mountain  Presbyterian,  he  carried 
the  interest  and  gifts  of  the  Church  along  with 
the  progress  of  the  great  work  done  by  himself 


FORECAST.  13 

and  his  devoted  associates;  while  others  who 
share  in  rejoicing  over  the  large  part  so  efficiently- 
borne  in  missions  by  our  elect  women,  will  re- 
member how  their  organization  for  home  work 
sprang  out  of  his  efforts,  and  in  spite  of  great  op- 
position has  reached  its  present  proportion  and 
met  with  so  much  divine  favor.  Does  not  the 
consecrated  wisdom  of  the  Church  require  that 
the  utmost  should  be  made  of  the  results  of  his 
thought  in  all  this  work? 

Then  there  is  his  experience  in  Alaska,  with 
which  this  generation  is  mainly  familiar,  in  which 
he  has  shown  so  great  capacity  as  preacher,  edu- 
cator and  statesman — such  courage,  endurance, 
self-sacrifice  and  wisdom.  The  Presbytery  of 
Alaska  sends  him  this  year  as  commissioner  to  the 
Assembly;  his  official  duties  in  Alaska,  and  the 
probabilities  of  his  being  sent  again  as  commis- 
sioner, are  such  as  to  make  it  most  unlikely,  if 
not  impossible,  that  he  can  ever  again  be  avail- 
able for  this  service.  Besides,  what  he  can  do  is 
needed  now.  Should  not  the  commissioners, 
therefore,  when  gathered,  put  him  in  a  way  to 
serve  them  to  the  utmost;  besides,  is  there  not 
wisdom  in  rewarding  such  service  as  he  has  ren- 
dered by  such  recognition? 

If  we  want  others  in  the  field  to  accomplish  like 
him,  should  we  not  show  them  and  the  divine 
Giver  of  such  men  that  we  appreciate  him?  If 
the  Assembly,  by  the  use  of  the  means  within  its 


14  FORECAST. 

reach,  and  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  can  be 
adequately  enthused  with  the  mission  spirit,  how 
will  our  Church  burdens  be  lightened  and  other 
difficulties  disappear? 

Sincerely  yours, 

John  Eaton, 

\Vashington,  D.C.  Of  Athens  Presbytery. 


THE   ELECTION. 


ELECTION. 


[New  York  Evangelist,  May  27,  1897.] 

THE   General   Assembly   convened   at   eleven 
o'clock  in  the  Auditorium,  the  first  time  in 
all  its  history  of  109  years  that  it  had  ever 
assembled   in  other  than   a   church.     The   great 
room   is   seated  with    2000   opera   chairs,  and   is 
pronounced  excellent  for  hearing. 

At  the  afternoon  session,  the  roll  having  been 
called  and  completed,  the  chief  event  was  the 
choice  of  a  Moderator.  The  first  commissioner 
to  rise  and  make  a  nomination  was  Dr.  J.  Wilbur 
Chapman,  of  Philadelphia,  himself  a  favorite  can- 
didate in  the  minds  of  very  many  delegates.  He 
began  by  sapng  that  he  had  no  desire  personally 
to  be  nominated,  although  many  had  asked  him 
to  be  a  candidate.  He  had  been  allowed  a  high 
honor  in  having  so  many  churches  opened  for  his 
work.  He  said  he  stood  for  a  forward  movement 
and  for  true  blue  Presbyterianism,  and  for  the 
true  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  of  the  Old 
Book  as  the  Word  of  God.  He  had  been  assured 
that  at  least  one  other  man  stood  for  the  same 
thing,     and    desiring    to   honor    him,    he   would 

17 


1 8  ELECTION. 

present  the  name  of  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Collin 
Minton,  of  San  Francisco,  who  is  a  skilled  church 
parliamentarian,  a  man  of  wide  travel,  a  suc- 
cessful pastor  for  fourteen  years,  and  a  successful 
professor  of  theology.  Dr.  Minton  represents 
men  of  action ;  there  is  no  faction  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  as  was  shown  in  Dr.  Withrow's 
sermon.  An  universal  law  gives  the  Moderator- 
ship  to  the  Pacific  coast,  which  has  not  had  the 
office  for  twenty  long  years.  Now  is  a  time  for 
all  men  to  do  all  things  which  will  promote  the 
peace  of  the  Church  and  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly. He  wanted  Philadelphia  to  place  all  it  had 
at  the  feet  of  the  Pacific  coast.  Now  "  I  ask  the 
election  of  Rev.  Henry  Collin  Minton,  D.D., 
LL.D." 

Dr.  Henry  Ward,  of  Buffalo,  seconded  the 
nomination  of  Prof.  Minton  as  one  who  well 
represented  the  whole  Church. 

There  was  a  short  pause,  broken,  however,  by 
the  rising  of  Elder  H.  J.  Morrison,  of  Madison 
Presbytery,  Wis.,  who  in  a  few  words  nominated 
the  Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.,  of  the  new 
Presbytery  of  Alaska.  This  nomination  was  sup- 
ported by  Dr.  George  L.  Spining,  of  Orange, 
N.  J.,  in  a  very  eloquent  speech.  He  went  on  to 
trace  his  marvelous  missionary  career.  He  went 
security  for  Sheldon  Jackson's  orthodoxy,  "who 
forty  years  ago  went  out  with  the  Standards  of 
the  Church  in  one  hand  and  the  Bible  in  the  other 


ELECTION.  19 

and  founded  over  one  hundred  churches — an 
apostolic  record,  truly!  and,"  the  speaker  added, 
"who  will  not  come  to  another  Assembly  until 
he  comes  next  year  to  preach  the  opening  ser- 
mon." This  unlooked-for  and  confident  predic- 
tion was  received  with  some  laughter  and  more 
applause. 

Next,  the  Rev.  S.  S.  Palmer,  of  Oakland,  Cal., 
supported  Prof.  Minton  in  an  able  speech.  He 
said  among  other  things  that  his  election  would 
be  a  fitting  contribution  to  the  quarter-centennial 
celebration  of  the  San  Francisco  Seminary.  No 
man  helps  the  churches  and  pastors  of  California 
more  than  Dr.  Minton.  It  would  also  be  a  good 
thing  to  have  Dr.  Minton  Moderator  when  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Convention  meets  in  Cali- 
fornia in  July.  Dr.  Minton  has  matured  on  the 
Pacific  coast  and  understands  its  needs.  As  a 
Moderator  he  would  prove  himself  second  to 
none. 

The  Rev.  Richard  M.  Hayes,  of  La  Grande, 
Ore.,  made  a  strong  speech  in  favor  of  Dr. 
Jackson,  and  from  the  Home  Missions  view-point. 

The  Moderator  here  reminded  the  Assembly 
that  an  hour  had  been  given  to  oratory,  and 
would  they  not  abridge  remarks?  It  was  voted 
that  speeches  should  be  limited  to  three  minutes, 
and  several  more  were  made  for  the  candidates, 
when,  on  motion  of  Elder  Kilaen  Van  Rensse- 
laer,   of    New    York,    the   voting   was   proceeded 


20  ELECTION. 

with.  The  division  was  at  first  very  even,  so  that 
there  was  doubt  of  the  result;  later  it  became 
apparent  that  Dr.  Jackson  was  to  be  chosen.  He 
received  313  votes  to  238  for  Prof.  Minton. 

The  new  Moderator  was  welcomed  by  his 
predecessor  in  terms  of  congratulation,  saying  in 
conclusion,  '*  It  is  a  great  joy  and  a  great  honor 
to  be  Moderator,  and  may  God  give  you  a  good 
year  as  Moderator," 

The  new  Moderator,  Dr.  Jackson,  thanked  the 
Assembly  for  the  great  honor  it  had  bestowed 
upon  him,  but  not  on  him  personally  so  much  as 
on  the  great  cause  he  represented.  In  a  few 
words  he  referred  to  the  severe  ordeal  from 
which  Home  Missions  were  just  emerging.  He 
said  emphatically :  ' '  There  has  been  practical 
starvation  in  mission  homes  all  over  this  land,  and 
mission  schools  have  been  closed  and  churches 
closed  and  scattered."  Referring  later  to  matters 
more  local,  he  remarked  that  one  of  the  first 
missionary  meetings  ever  held  in  this  State  of 
Indiana  was  held  in  the  home  of  General  Harri- 
son. 

[Post^  Washington,  D.  C,  May  2J,  1897  (Associated 
Press  Despatch).] 

AS  was  indicated  yesterday,  there  were  but  two 
candidates    for    the    Moderatorship   of    the 
Presbyterian  General  Assembly — Dr.  Shel- 
don   Jackson,     the    home    missionary,    and    Dr. 


ELECTION.  21 

Henry  C.  Minton,  the  seminary  professor.  Both 
represent  the  work  of  the  Church  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  but  the  rank  and  file  of  the  commissioners 
rallied  to  the  standard-bearer  of  Home  Missions. 
The  politicians  of  the  Assembly  were  treated  to  a 
great  surprise,  and  the  election  of  Dr.  Jackson  by 
a  vote  of  313  to  238  was  characterized  by  many 
delegates  as  a  "  breaking  of  the  machine."  .    .  .    . 


[Chicago  Times-Herald,  May  21,  1897.] 

RELIGION  and  politics  divided  the  first  day  of 
the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly.  Rev. 
Dr.  John  L.  Withrow,  of  Chicago,  opened  the 
morning  session  with  his  sermon  as  the  retiring 
Moderator,  Rev.  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson,  the 
Alaska  missionary,  was  chosen  Moderator  in  the 
afternoon  amid  dramatic  scenes,  after  a  spirited 
contest. 

Two   thousand    persons   filled    the   handsome 
auditorium. 

During  the  selection  of  the  new  Moderator  the 
legislative  body  of  the  great  Calvinistic  Church 
resembled  a  political  convention.  The  power  of 
eloquence  had  another  striking  example.  Dr. 
George  L.  Spining,  of  South  Orange,  N.  J.,  made 
an  impassioned  nominating  speech  for  the 
missionary  candidate  that  swept  the  Assembly 
before  it.  Before  that  speech  was  made  it  was 
generally    conceded    that    Rev.    H.    C.     Minton, 


22  ELECTION. 

Professor  in  the  San  Francisco  Theolog-ical  Semi- 
nary, would  be  elected,  but  Dr.  Spining  turned  the 
tide.     The  vote  was:  Jackson,  313;  Minton,  238. 

Rev.  Dr.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman,  of  Philadelphia, 
pastor  of  ex-Postmaster-General  Wanamaker's 
church,  withdrew  from  the  race  this  morning  after 
an  unsuccessful  effort  had  been  made  to  have 
ex- President  Benjamin  Harrison  put  his  name  in 
nomination.  Dr.  Chapman  even  made  the  nom- 
inating speech  for  Dr.  Minton  and  asked  his 
friends  to  vote  for  the  Californian.  General 
Harrison  and  Mr.  Wananiaker  followed  his 
suggestions,  but  Governor  Mount,  of  Indiana, 
voted  for  the  missionary. 

H.  J.  Morrison,  of  Richland  Center,  Wis., 
presented  the  name  of  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson.  Dr. 
Spining  followed  in  a  thrilling  speech  that  moved 
the  grave  assemblage  to  repeated  bursts  of 
laughter  and  applause. 

Rev.  S.  S.  Palmer,  of  Oakland,  Cal.,  defended 
the  Californian.  Rev.  Richard  M.  Hayes,  of  La 
Grange,  Ore.,  unexpectedly  supported  Dr.  Jack- 
son, and  Dr.  George  W.  McMillan,  of  Richmond, 
Ohio,  spoke  for  the  missionary. 

At  the  roll  call  the  names  of  Dr.  Minton  and 
Dr.  Jackson  were  called  first.  Each  voted  for  the 
other.  Then,  amid  laughter,  they  shook  hands 
and  left  the  building.  When  Dr.  Jackson  was 
brought  back  after  the  announcement  of  the  vote 
the  Assembly  sprang  to  its  feet  and  received  him 


ELECTION,  23 

with  a  storm  of  applause.  Dr.  Withrow  turned 
over  the  gavel,  with  a  few  touching-  remarks,  and 
the  new  Moderator  made  a  short  speech  of  thanks. 

Rev.  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson,  the  new  Moderator, 
has  had  a  career  unparalleled  in  its  devotion, 
romance,  heroism  and  achievement.  He  is  round- 
ing out  forty  years  of  missionary  work  in  the  wild 
places  of  the  United  States 

Dr.  Jackson  went  to  Alaska  in  1877  as  the  first 
missionary  and  located  Mrs.  A.  R.  McFarland  as 
teacher  at  Fort  Wrangel.  There  was  no  law  in 
Alaska,  and  he  began  an  agitation  which  resulted 
in  the  establishment  of  a  territorial  government. 
He  built  an  industrial  training  school  for  native 
children  at  Sitka.  He  organized  the  Alaskan 
Society  of  Natural  History  and  Ethnology,  built  a 
museum  and  made  a  valuable  collection.  He 
found  whole  villages  on  Bering  Sea  and  the  Arctic 
Ocean  perishing  because  the  natives  had  recklessly 
killed  off  the  wild  game.  He  conceived  the  idea 
of  importing  reindeer  to  save  the  natives. 

Dr.  Jackson  has  brought  many  Alaskan  children 
to  the  States  to  be  educated 


[Dr.  "William  C.  Gray,  in  the  Chicago  "  Interior/'  May  27,  1897.] 

THE  election  of  a  Moderator  of  the  Assembly 
this   year   was   peculiarly   interesting;    the 
Pacific    coast   had   very    justly    demanded 
representation  in  a  Moderatorship  which  it  has  not 


24  ELECTION. 

had  for  more  than  twenty  years.  Though  I  had 
never  met  Dr.  Minton,  I  was  especially  drawn 
toward  him  by  his  high  character,  fine  qualifica- 
tions and  irenic  spirit.  Indeed,  as  I  have  said,  all 
the  names  that  were  mentioned  were  of  brethren 
who  were  eminently  worthy.  As  will  be  seen, 
however,  in  the  autobiographical  sketch  of  Dr. 
Jackson,  as  long  ago  as  last  October  I  had 
mentioned  to  him  the  thought  that  was  passing  in 
the  minds  of  the  friends  of  Home  Missions,  that 
we  could  probably  give  that  cause  an  impetus  by 
electing  to  the  Moderatorship  a  distinguished 
home  missionary,  and  that,  if  he  would  consent,  I 
would  do  what  I  could  to  promote  his  election. 
In  the  first  place,  it  would  be  a  poor  showing  if  a 
man  of  Dr.  Jackson's  record  could  not  now,  after 
forty  years  of  the  most  distinguished  service  of 
any  American  missionary,  with  the  solitary 
exception  (if  exception  it  be)  of  Marcus  Whitman, 
receive  recognition.  If  the  Moderatorship  could 
only  go  to  the  theological  seminaries  and  the 
pastors  of  great  churches,  and  if  this  recognition 
of  Dr.  Jackson  should  be  refused,  then  above  the 
Assembly  portals  should  be  written  to  all  home 
missionaries,  "Ye  who  enter  here  leave  hope 
behind."  The  Church  made  a  great  mistake 
when  it  did  not  thus  recognize  Timothy  Hill,  and 
many  are  the  regrets  now  expressed  that  that 
great  man  was  permitted  to  go  to  his  grave 
without  the  knowledge  that  the  Church  which  he 


ELECTION.  25 

SO  faithfully  loved  and  served  appreciated  both 
that  love  and  service.  We  have  other  home 
missionaries  not  less  faithful,  and  I  trust  that 
hereafter  the  Assembly  may  go  for  Moderator  to 
its  hard-working  and  self-sacrificing  soldiers  in 
the  field  and  not  so  frequently  to  the  cloisters  of 
learning  and  the  naves  of  great  cathedrals. 

The  nominating  address  of  Dr.  Spining  was 
fully  up  to  the  high  standard  which  that  brother 
has  established  for  himself.  I  heard  a  New  York 
brother,  who  is  distinguished  for  eloquence,  say 
that  it  was  the  most  adroit,  brilliant  and  effective 
address  of  the  kind  he  had  ever  heard — that  it 
ranked  fully  up  to  the  Conkling  nomination  of 
Grant,  and  to  Garfield's  appeal  for  John  Sherman. 
Dr.  Spining  put  himself  in  pleasant  relations  with 
the  Assembly  in  his  first  sentence;  his  description 
of  the  work  of  Jackson  was  most  thrilling,  but  his 
vision  of  St.  Paul  capped  the  climax.  The  mixture 
of  pathos,  humor,  picturesqueness  and  fraternal 
love  in  this  vision  fairly  enraptured  the  Assembly. 
On  my  w^ay  to  the  Assembly  I  heard  a  home 
missionary  who  was  enduring  the  privation,  and 
engaged  in  the  stress  of  the  work,  speaking 
enthusiastically  of  his  fellow-missionary  Jackson. 

As  the  reader  will  be  interested  in  this  episode 
I  will  put  on  my  Campfire  Musings'  suit  and  talk 
familiarly  about  it.  Arriving  on  the  grounds.  Dr. 
Spining  soon  showed  up.  The  situation  appar- 
ently  was   that  the   whole   earth,  including  the 


26  ELECTION. 

principalities  and  powers  in  high  places,  were  for 
Dr.  ]\Iinton.  We  were  told  that  Pennsylvania  was 
solid  for  him.  New  York  city  certainly  was.  All 
of  New  Jersey  wanted  Minton.  The  Pacific  slope 
was  for  him  as  one  man.  General  Harrison  was 
for  him,  and  as  he  was  on  the  H's  and  would  vote 
early  in  the  roll  call,  his  influence  would  be  felt, 
though  he  desired  only  to  vote  his  preference,  and 
influence  nobody.  On  Wednesday  the  candidacy 
of  the  popular  Dr.  Chapman  was  promoted  and 
the  word  went  to  all  of  Jackson's  leading  friends 
that  the  people  had  left  our  David  and  were 
following  after — but  I  must  not  follow  the  illustra- 
tion. It  only  works  part  of  the  way — I  will  only 
say  that  Chapman  is  good  looking  and  the  rank 
and  file  of  Israel  like  him  very  much — and  we  all 
liked  him  too.  These  discouraging  words  were 
carried  to  Dr.  Spining,  who  replied:  "Shut  up  ! 
Jackson  will  be  the  Moderator."  The  combination 
for  Dr.  Minton  did  look  irresistible,  and  it  was 
more  formidable  than  we  supposed  because  we 
imagined  that  the  evangelist  Chapman  would  be 
more  favorable  to  the  missionary  than  to  the 
theological  professor.  It  was  the  Briggs-Smith 
roorback  which  put  us  upon  our  metal,  because 
that  was  a  reflection  upon  Jackson,  and  we 
resented  it.  I  knew  what  Spining  would  be  on  the 
platform.  There  was  a  man  whom  I  had  heard 
talking  on  the  train  as  I  went  down,  but  had  not 
obtained  his  name,   and  set  about  searching  for 


ELECTION.  27 

him.       About   half    past    ten    Wednesday    night 
General  Eaton  came  and  said  he  had  found  him 
— that  he  was  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hayes,  of  Oregon,  but 
that   he    had    gone    to   bed.       We   went    to   the 
Woman's  Building  and  asked  to  see  him.    He  sent 
word  that  he  had  retired  and  would  see  us  in  the 
morning,  but  like  Peter  we  "continued  knocking." 
He    came    down,  agreed   to    make  the  seconding 
speech,  and  then  said,  "  Brethren,  we  must  spend 
part  of  this  night  in  prayer."     That  was  assented 
to  as  the  only  politics  available  in  such  an  emer- 
gency.      If   we   could   get    God  for   Jackson,    we 
would  not  be  afraid  of  the  combination — and    it 
appears  that  we  did.      I  am  quite  sure  that  it  was 
the  praying  which  resulted  in  the  touching  of  the 
lips  of  Spining  and  Hayes  with  such  divine  fire. 
It  was  a  great  surprise  when  Dr.  Chapman  arose, 
withdrew  his  name,   and   threw  his   influence    to 
Dr.  Minton,  but  when  he  repeated  that  "there  is 
one  man  true  to  the  Word  of  God,"  and  that  Dr. 
Minton  was  that  man,  then  I  knew  that  if  God 
had  not,  humanly  speaking,  been  for  Jackson,  we 
could  rely  upon  Him  now.    God  would  never  stand 
that ;  and  I  recalled  with  great  satisfaction   what 
God  says  about  such  men  as  Jackson,  that  they 
are   the  apple   of  His   eye.     Dr.    Chapman   had 
indorsed,  when  there  was  no  chance  to  break  the 
force  of  it,  the  Briggs  and  Smith  alarm,  and  by 
direct  inference  had  smitten  Sheldon  Jackson. 
Now  we  leave  it  to  the  reader  whether  under 


28  ELECTION. 

such  circumstances  any  hope  less  than  that  in  Al- 
mighty God  could  have  given  any  encourage- 
ment. There  is  one  place  in  the  Bible  where  it  is 
said,  if  our  beloved  Rouse  correctly  translates  in 
rhyme,  that  God  shall  laugh.  I  think  when  the 
vote  was  announced,  with  the  little  missionary 
nearly  a  hundred  ahead,  that  God  smiled  on  the 
Assembly. 

Dr.  Jackson  is  one  of  the  most  guileless  spirits 
I  ever  knew.  With  a  fondness  for  humor  which 
is  probably  excessive  in  me,  I  used,  a  score  of 
years  ago,  to  find  food  for  good-natured  satire  in 
the  little  missionary,  Sheldon  Jackson,  who  had 
charge  of  the  whole  country  from  the  Rio  Grande 
to  British  Columbia,  west  of  the  Mississippi  river. 
I  used  to  call  him  the  missionary  mustang  of  the 
Rockies,  and  depict  the  clouds  of  dust  which  fol- 
lowed his  swift  career  between  the  tropics  and 
the  arctics.  Almost  any  other  man  would  have 
taken  it  seriously  and  become  my  mortal  enemy; 
not  so  Jackson.  Some  of  his  near  friends  were 
angry  about  it,  but  he  only  laughed  at  it.  He 
has,  as  I  now  know,  a  quiet  revenge;  he  says  he 
has  clipped  all  those  descriptions  out  and  pasted 
them  in  a  scrapbook  as  part  of  the  history  of 
western  missionaries.  If  these  descriptions 
should  ever  get  into  that  history,  the  laugh  would 
be  longest  and  loudest — not  at  Jackson,  but  at 
myself. 

I  do  not  remember  of  an  instance  in  which  a 


ELECTION.  29 

successful  candidate  for  the  Moderatorship  called 
upon  his  defeated  opponent  to  unite  with  him  in 
making  up  the  Assembly's  committees.  Dr. 
Jackson  immediately  sent  for  Dr.  Minton  and  the 
two  combined  their  counsels,  each  equally  de- 
ferring to  the  other,  in  constituting  the  personale 
of  the  working  machinery  of  the  Assembly.  The 
significance  of  this  is  that  if  Dr.  Minton  had  been 
elected  his  friends  could  not  have  been  better  sat- 
isfied in  the  constituting  of  the  working  machin- 
ery of  the  Assembly  than  they  now  are.  There 
was  immediate  and  perfect  confidence  and  co- 
operation between  the  brethren  who  in  the 
matter  of  personal  preference  appeared  but  an 
hour  before  to  be  upon  opposing  sides.  It  is  a 
guarantee  that  this  is  to  be  one  of  the  most  har- 
monious, devoted  and  consecrated  Assemblies  of 
recent  years,  certainly  equaling  in  these  blessed 
qualities  the  Assembly  of  last  year. 


[The  Evangelist,  New  York  Qtyjune  3,  1897.] 

OF  course,  there  were  some  surprises,  the 
greatest  of  which  was  at  the  ver\^  begin- 
ning, in  the  choice  of  a  Moderator.  We 
had  heard  indeed  of  Sheldon  Jackson  as  a  possi- 
ble candidate,  but  could  hardly  believe  that  one 
who  was  modest  even  to  shyness  could  come  to 
such  honor,  especially  as  the  eyes  of  the  brethren 


30  ELECTION. 

from  the  Pacific  coast  had  been  turned  toward 
Dr.  Minton,  a  man  of  admirable  presence  and  fit- 
ness for  such  a  position.  Others  there  were  also, 
like  our  dear  Dr.  Sample,  whom  all  would  have 
been  glad  to  see  in  the  Moderator's  chair.  But 
Sheldon  Jackson  is  a  peculiar  figure  in  the 
Church.  For  thirty  years  he  has  been  in  the 
very  front  of  the  army  of  the  Lord,  always  on  the 
skirmish  line,  wherever  there  were  dangers  to  be 
met,  or  hardships  to  be  endured.  Thus  he  has 
carried  the  Gospel  westward  and  northward  to 
the  Arctic  Circle.  Such  a  man  all  were  glad  to 
see  dragged  out  of  his  retirement  and  placed  in  a 
position  of  honor  that  he  so  well  deserved.  Dr. 
Spining  struck  the  keynote  of  popular  feeling 
when  he  drew  the  picture  of  Paul  coming  down 
to  inspect  the  Assembly,  and  the  officers,  zealous 
to  do  him  honor,  proposed  to  introduce  him  to 
its  most  distinguished  members,  among  whom 
were  a  President  of  the  United  States  and  a 
member  of  his  Cabinet,  to  which  the  old  saint  re- 
plied, "  I  will  see  them  later,  but  just  now  I 
should  like  to  see  Sheldon  Jackson!"  and  when 
the  two  looked  in  each  other's  face,  Paul's  first 
salutation  was,  "Why,  you  are  not  any  taller 
than  I  am!  "  This  took  the  house  by  storm,  and 
the  commissioners  could  hardly  have  shown  more 
enthusiasm  if  they  had  been  voting  for  Paul  him- 
self! 


ELECTION.  31 

[New  York  Observer  June  3,  1897.] 

THE  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman  showed  his 
good  spirit  when  he  withdrew  his  name 
from  the  list  of  candidates  for  the  Modera- 
torship  in  favor  of  Dr.  Minton,  but  he  showed 
still  more  grace  when  he  explained  his  remark 
about  his  friend,  and  which  was  unfortunately  re- 
garded in  some  quarters  as  a  reflection  on  Dr. 
Jackson.  Those  who  know  Dr.  Chapman  know 
him  to  be  absolutely  incapable  of  any  unbrotherly 
reflection. 

Dr.  Spining's  address  nominating  Dr.  Jackson 
for  the  Moderator's  chair  was  an  exceedingly 
happy  effort.  The  vision  of  St.  Paul  as  a  visitor 
to  Winona  was  a  masterpiece  of  oratorical  art. 
The  summoning  of  the  apostle  to  the  support  of 
the  hero  of  Alaska  was  all  so  good-naturedly  done 
that  it  could  not  fail  to  be  appreciated  even  by 
those  brethren  who  were  looking  in  a  different 
direction  for  a  Moderator. 

The  angels  must  have  been  pleased  as  they 
hovered  over  the  scene  when  Moderator  Jackson 
and  Dr.  Minton  labored  together  to  select  the 
committees.  We  shall  not  wonder  if  alliteration 
has  its  way  in  the  near  future,  and  Moderator 
Minton  holds  the  gavel. 


NOMINATION  ADDRESSES. 


Ruling  Elder  H.  J.  Morrison,  Wisconsin. 

Rev.  George  L.  Spining,  D.D.,  New  Jersey. 
Rev.  Richard  M.  Hayes,  Oregon, 

Rev.  George  W.  McMillan,  D.D.,  Ohio. 


NOMINATION  ADDRESSES. 


Remarks  of  Ruling  Elder  H.  J.  Morrison. 

MR.  Moderator: — I  nominate  Dr.  Sheldon 
Jackson.  I  have  no  set  speech  to  make  in 
his  behalf,  but  merely  wish  to  say  that  I 
first  met  him  in  iSyS  at  the  General  Assembly  in 
Pittsburgh,  and  for  nearly  twenty  years  have  fol- 
lowed him  in  his  work.  I  wish  that  this  General 
Assembly  may  be  known  as  the  "  ^Missionary  As- 
sembly," and  to  help  make  it  so,  I  want  the 
greatest  home  missionary  to  preside.  I  hope  Dr. 
Sheldon  Jackson  will  be  elected  Moderator. 


Rev.  George  L.  Spining,  D.D.,  Pastor  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  South  Orange,  N.  J. 

[From  The  Interior,  June  J7,  J897.] 

DR.   SPINING'S  address  nominating  Dr.  Jack- 
son was  one  of   the    three  remarkable  ora- 
tions    which      distinguished      the     Winona 
Assembly,  his,  General  Harrison's  and  Dr.  With- 
row's.     The  latter  was  not  stenographed,  and  the 
Doctor   does  not   now   remember  what   he   said. 

35 


36  NOMINATION  ADDRESSES. 

We  desired  to  have  Dr.  Spining's  address  revised 
and  published,  just  as  it  was  delivered.      It  was 
impromptu,  and  grew  out  of  immediate  circum- 
stances.     The    appropriateness    of    the    opening 
paragraph  will  only  be  perceived  when  it   is  ex- 
plained that  a  pretty  strong  pressure  was  made  to 
have   Dr.  Jackson  withdraw,  to  save  him  the  hu- 
miliation  of   a  light   support.     The   speaker  was 
fired,  also,  by  what  had  just  occurred  on  the  plat- 
form— what   was    understood   to    be   a    reflection 
upon  the  doctrinal  reliability  of  Dr.  Jackson.      He 
answered  that  imputation  as  briefly  as  nobly  in  the 
sentence  beginning,    "Is  the  loyalty  of  this  man 
called  in  question?"     We  make  bold  to   express 
the    conviction   that   this   speech  of   Dr.   Spining 
has  never   been    equaled    as  an    example    of   im- 
promptu eloquence  in  any  modern  religious  assem- 
bly, and  by  very  few  in  the  forums  of  the  legis- 
lators. 

DR.    SPINING'S  address. 

Moderator,  Fathers  and  Brethren: — Once 
upon  a  time  when  Mr.  Beecher  was  absent,  his 
committee  on  pulpit  supply  ventured  to  engage  a 
certain  Congregational  "  rough  diamond  "  from 
the  backwoods  of  Missouri  to  fill  the  pulpit  of  the 
great  preacher  for  a  single  Sabbath.  A  moment 
before  service  they  took  him  aside,  reminded  him 
that  he  was  soon  to  find  himself  before  an 
audience   which   represented   the   brains,    wealth 


NOMINA  TION  ADDRESSES.  37 

and  culture  of  America,  and  kindly  exhorted  him 
not  to  be  afraid,  but  to  go  ahead  and  deliver  his 
message.  Upon  entering  the  pulpit  he  stepped 
to  the  front,  shaded  his  eves  with  his  hand, 
scanned  his  audience  critically,  and  began  as 
follows:  "  So  this  is  the  congregation  of  the  great 
Mr.  Beecher!  Your  deacons  have  just  cautioned 
me  not  to  be  frightened,  but  to  go  ahead  and 
preach  as  I  would  to  my  own  people.  Now,  you 
bald-headed  sinners  and  gray-haired  saints,  I 
want  you  to  understand  in  the  beginning  that  if 
any  one  in  this  house  is  scared  he  isn't  on  this 
platform,  for  I  have  a  message  from  my  Master 
to  deliver  to  you,  and  I  intend  to  deliver  it  in  the 
fear  of  God." 

It  is  with  a  feeling  akin  to  this  that  I  venture 
to  take  the  platform  for  a  few  minutes  in  pres- 
ence of  this  vast  audience,  to  present  the  claims 
of  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson  for  the  highest  honor  the 
Church  can  confer,  not  only  on  account  of  his 
splendid  and  incomparable  services  in  the  field  of 
missionary  activity,  but  because  he  is  the  incarna- 
tion of  that  aggressive  and  consecrated  mission- 
ary spirit  to  which  I  believe  the  Master  would 
give  expression  in  all  the  deliberations  of  this 
Assembly.  Too  long  have  we  been  standing 
with  the  angel  of  the  backward  look — too  long 
flailing  the  earth  and  blinding  our  eyes  with  the 
dust  of  a  dying  controversy.  In  the  meantime 
our  missionary  forces  at  home  and  abroad  have 


38  NOMINA TION  ADDRESSES. 

had  their  supplies  cut  off  ;  our  Church  Boards 
have  all  been  wounded  and  crippled;  appropria- 
tions in  every  direction  have  been  cut  down ;  the 
humiliating  order  of  halt  and  even  retreat  has 
passed  to  the  frontier;  outposts  for  which  we 
have  fought,  and  upon  which  we  have  expended 
the  toil  and  treasure  of  years  in  heroic  effort, 
have  been  surrendered;  unhappy  dissensions  too 
long  prolonged  have  wrought  distrust  and  weak- 
ened fraternal  bonds;  hard  times  have  tightened 
our  grip  on  our  purse-strings  and  weakened  our 
faith  in  God ;  spiritual  stupor  has  come  upon  us 
and  the  Delilah  of  self-indulgence  has  sought  to 
bind  us  hand  and  foot  with  cords  of  avarice, 
indifference  and  worldliness,  so  that  the  condition 
of  the  great  Presbyterian  Church  to-day  is  like 
that  of  a  slumbering  giant  awaiting  the  cry, 
"Samson,  Samson,  awake!  The  Philistines  are 
upon  thee ! " 

If  I  know  anything  of  the  Church  at  large, 
the  Church  we  represent — the  prayer  of  those 
who  get  nearest  to  God — it  is  that  we  should  turn 
our  faces  from  the  past  toward  the  future,  and 
from  controversy  to  conquest.  In  this  connection 
I  venture  to  say  that  no  man  in  this  Assembly  has 
done  more  to  win  this  land  for  Christ  than  Shel- 
don Jackson — little  Sheldon  Jackson.  True,  he 
is  diminutive  in  stature,  but  I  think  it  is  evident 
that  Providence  cut  him  off  short  that  he  might 
fit   the   Indian   ponies  which   were   to  carry  him 


NOMINATION  ADDRESSES.  39 

over  thousands  of  miles  of  mountain  trails,  that 
he  might  be  able  to  sleep  in  barrels,  buckboards, 
stage-boots,  kyacks  and  hollow  logs,  in  his  '  jour- 
neyings  often  '  over  the  great  mountains,  plains 
and  waters  of  the  West;  that  he  might  accommo- 
date himself  to  the  narrow  quarters  of  the  cabin 
of  the  miner,  the  mud  hut  of  the  Mexican,  the 
hovel  of  the  Alaskan,  the  tepee  of  the  Indian, 
and  the  scant  accommodations  of  the  prison  cell 
— all  of  which  he  has  done  in  planting  the 
standard  of  the  cross  over  that  western  country. 

'Neatli  the  mantel  of  a  century, 

Lo,  a  mighty  empire  lies, 
On  whose  brow  millennial  glory 

Of  the  Church  of  God  shall  rise. 

Naturally,  he  should  be  our  standard-bearer. 
Is  the  loyalty  of  this  man  called  in  question? 
Let  us  test  it  not  by  the  sounding  brass  and 
tinkling  cymbals  of  party  shibboleths  and  factious 
strife,  but  by  the  apostolic  tests  of  hardness 
endured,  of  life  imperiled,  of  fidelity  in  the  face 
of  imprisonment  and  death,  of  unwearied  activity 
and  of  splendid  achievement. 

The  great  State  of  New  York  claims  the 
honor  of  his  nativity;  Union  College  gave  him 
his  classical  equipment,  while  Princeton  moulded 
his  theology,  and  now  points  with  pride  to  his 
heroic  career  as  an  example  of  her  missionary 
spirit. 

Forty   years   ago,   when    many  of   us   were   in 


40  NOMINATION  ADDRESSES. 

our  cradles,  he  crossed  the  frontier  of  the 
Mississippi  as  a  trusted  standard-bearer  of  the 
cross,  and  from  that  time  to  this  he  has  been 
charged  with  the  responsibility  of  laying  the 
foundations  of  a  colossal  Church  in  Minnesota, 
Iowa,  Dakota,  Nebraska,  Montana,  Wyoming, 
Colorada,  New  Mexico,  Arizona,  Utah,  and  far- 
off  Alaska.  He  has  been  one  of  that  noble  band 
of  pioneers  who  carved  Presbyteries  out  of  the 
wilderness  and  erected  Synods  before  the  founda- 
tions of  civil  government  were  laid.  Penetrating 
thousands  of  miles  into  the  barbaric  night  of  that 
great  empire  which  lay  between  the  Mississippi 
and  the  Pacific,  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the 
remotest  habitation  of  man  within  the  Arctic  zone 
— carrying  the  Bible  in  one  hand  and  our  Confes- 
sion in  the  other — he  has  gathered  hundreds  of 
congregations  and  founded  a  hundred  churches 
on  the  Word  of  God  and  "according  to  the 
pattern  shown  us  in  the  mount."  Deeds  speak 
louder  than  words,  and  these  churches  which 
lighten  up  the  wilderness  and  make  glad  the 
solitary  place  are  to-day  rolling  up  the  long- 
meter  Doxology  from  the  plains  of  Minnesota, 
the  rock-ribbed  mountains  of  Colorado,  and  the 
ice-bound  shores  of  Alaska,  praising  God  for  the 
loyalty  of  this  "one  man"  to  the  "Old  Book" 
and  to  our  Confession. 

Has   he    executive   ability    and   experience    in 
handling    difficult    questions?     The    Church    has 


NOMINATION  ADDRESSES.  41 

already  answered  this  question,  and  the  United 
States  Government  has  shown  its  high  estimate 
of  his  ability  by  entrusting  him  with  the  forma- 
tion and  superintendence  of  its  whole  educational 
system  in  Alaska.  If  it  may  be  objected  that 
this  is  a  secular  position,  I  answer  that  he  is  still 
a  missionary  of  our  Board,  and  I  would  God  that 
more  of  our  educational  system  throughout  the 
land  were  taken  from  the  hands  of  unbelief  and 
placed  in  the  hands  of  Christian  men.  It  de- 
tracts nothing  from  the  glory  of  the  Church  that 
many  of  her  faithful  servants  have  been  honored 
by  the  State  with  positions  of  great  responsi- 
bility. If  it  does,  then  let  us  strike  off  the  first 
and  most  illustrious  of  all  the  names  in  the  roll  of 
our  Moderators — the  name  of  the  Rev.  John 
Witherspoon,  President  of  Princeton  College, 
member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  signer 
of  our  immortal  Declaration  of  Independence. 
In  Sheldon  Jackson  we  have  not  only  the  untiring 
missionary  who  has  traveled  600,000  miles — a 
distance  equal  to  twenty-four  circuits  of  the  globe 
in  the  prosecution  of  his  work;  not  only  the 
educator  who  has  founded  a  great  institution  of 
learning  in  Utah  and  endowed  it  with  his 
patrimony,  but  we  see  in  him  the  elements  of 
the  broad-minded  statesman  and  great-hearted 
philanthropist,  one  of  whom  the  future  historian 
will  write:  "  In  a  time  of  famine  and  distress, 
when  their  food  supply  was  gone,  he  crossed  the 


42  NOMINATION  ADDRESSES. 

ice  regions  of  the  North,  penetrated  into  the 
fastnesses  of  Siberia  and  saved  the  native  races  of 
Alaska  by  introducing  large  herds  of  reindeer  for 
their  subsistence  and  support."  Sir,  this  deed 
alone  entitles  him  to  the  admiration  of  mankind, 
and  will  yet  place  his  name  in  the  Pantheon  of 
philanthropy  with  all  the  honors  of  an  uncrowned 
king. 

Mr,  Moderator,  it  is  high  time  that  the 
Church  should  show  her  appreciation  of  the 
splendid  services  of  her  home  missionaries,  by 
placing  the  highest  honor  within  her  gift  upon 
the  head  of  one  of  her  battle-scarred  veterans. 
How  often  within  recent  years  has  this  honor 
gone  to  the  seminaries;  how  seldom,  proportion- 
ately, has  it  fallen  to  the  great  body  of  pastors, 
and  in  not  one  single  instance  has  it  ever  gone  to 
a  home  missionary.  If  it  is  a  legitimate  object  of 
ministerial  ambition,  are  we  to  understand  that 
service  counts  for  nothing  and  there  is  no  direct 
path  to  it  from  the  Home  Mission  field. 

Sir,  it  is  recorded  in  Holy  Writ  that  King 
Ahasuerus,  in  a  wakeful  hour,  in  reading  the 
chronicles  of  his  kingdom,  stumbled  across  the 
record  of  the  unrequited  services  of  Mordecai, 
and  touched  with  a  feeling  of  gratitude  cried  out: 
"What  honor  or  dignity  hath  been  put  upon 
this  Mordecai? "  The  chamberlains  answered, 
"  None."  "What  shall  be  done  to  the  man  whom 
the   king   delighteth    to   honor? "    was   the  next 


NOMINA  TION  ADD R ESSES.  43 

question.     We   all    know   the   answer,    and    that 
Mordecai  was    made  prime  minister  of   his  king- 
dom.     In   1879  the   Chm-ch  was  looking-  over  its 
work  in   the  foreign   field,    and  came  across  the 
grand  record  of  Dr.  H.  H.    Jessup,  who  had  been 
in  the  forefront  of  the  battle  on  foreign  fields  for 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.     The  same  old 
questions  raised  by  Ahasuerus  came  up,  and  Dr. 
Jessup  was  made  prime  minister  of  the   Presby- 
terian Church  for  that  year.      The  result  was  a 
great  quickening  of  interest  in  Foreign  Missions. 
The  Church  is  now  on    its  knees   praying   for 
peace  and  fraternal  love — for  a  great  quickening, 
a  spiritual  uplift  which  shall  bring  us  face  to  face 
again  with  a  perishing  world  and  with   the  work 
we  have   to  do  for  its  redemption.     One  of    the 
means    to    this   end   will    be    the    election    of    a 
missionary  leader  of  this  Assembly. 

Brethren,  I  had  a  dream  to-day,  which  was 
not  all  a  dream.  In  my  vision  I  saw  a  corridor 
reaching  from  this  platform  back  and  upward  to 
the  first  century.  Out  of  a  door  in  that 
century  came  a  man  of  small  stature;  bronzed, 
scarred,  and  weather  beaten;  a  dim  halo  of  glory 
was  about  him,  and  while  he  wore  the  panoply  of 
a  soldier  of  the  cross — he  carried  above  him  a 
tattered  flag — like  those  of  veteran  soldiers  re- 
turning from  war.  Upon  it  I  read  the  names 
Corinth,  Ephesus,  Philippi  and  Rome,  and  as  he 
reached  this  platform,  I  said  to  myself,  Surely  I 


44  iXOMINA  TION  A  DDR  ESSES. 

cannot  be  mistaken,  this  is  none  other  than  the 
Apostle  Paul,  the  great  missionary  to  the  Gen- 
tiles. I  ventured  to  inform  him  as  to  the 
character  of  our  Assembly,  and  to  assure  him 
that  the  system  of  theology  in  which  we  believed 
was  that  which  he  had  outlined  as  being  in 
conformity  with  the  Word  of  God.  He  seemed 
deeply  interested,  and  after  speaking  to  him  of 
the  growth  of  our  Church  and  of  our  missionary 
work  I  offered  to  introduce  him  to  some  of  the 
distinguished  members  of  this  Assembly.  ' '  Here, 
for  instance,"  said  I,  "is  Benjamin  Harrison." 
"  Yes,"  he  replied,  "  a  worthy  successor  of  Wash- 
ington— a  Christian  statesman,  and  an  elder 
beloved.  I  would  like  to  meet  him,  but  not  now, 
I  will  see  him  later."  I  said,  "Here  is  also 
General  Wanamaker."  "  Yes,"  he  answered,  "I 
know  his  record  from  that  of  a  poor  boy,  to 
wealth  and  high  public  position.  I  know  his 
evangelical  spirit,  his  liberality,  his  personal  work 
— and  that  he  hath  built  us  a  grand  synagogue 
where  Christ  only  is  preached.  I  long  to  meet 
him — but  wait  awhile,  I  will  see  him  later. "  I 
said,  "Here  also  is  James  A.  Mount."  "Yes," 
he  answered,  "he  is  Governor  of  the  great  State 
of  Indiana.  An  elder  in  a  little  country  church 
— has  ordered  his  household  in  the  fear  of  God, 
has  a  daughter  in  the  foreign  field  and  a  son  a 
home  missionary.  I  long  to  meet  him — but  not 
now,  I  will  see  him  later." 


NOMINATION  ADDRESSES.  45 

"Here,"  said  I,  "is  our  Moderator,  Dr.  With- 
row,  who  has  just  swept  the  Gospel  harp  with  a 
master  hand  and  filled  our  souls  with  the  music  of 
divine  charity."  "Yes,"  he  replied,  "he  is  a 
man  after  mine  own  heart — a  beloved  disciple — I 
must  see  him,  but  not  now,  will  see  him  later." 
I  then  remarked  that  we  had  some  notable 
Christian  women  here.  Mrs.  James,  Mrs.  Pier- 
son,  and  many  others.  "Yes,"  he  answered, 
"they  are  all  beloved  helpers  in  the  Lord — I 
must  meet  them  also,  but  not  now,  I  will  see 
them  later."  "Who  then,"  said  I,  "do  you  first 
wish  to  see?"  He  looked  carefully  over  the 
Assembly  and  answered:  "Is  there  not  a  little 
bronzed  missionary  from  Alaska  here — a  man 
about  my  size — a  man  of  weak  eyes  and  insig^nifi- 
cant  bodily  presence — a  man  in  whom  the 
apostolic  zeal  of  ancient  times  has  found  expres- 
sion in  the  New  World,  and  who  has  had  the  care 
of  all  the  churches  in  the  regions  beyond?  " 

"Ah,"  I  cried,  "I  know  who  you  mean,"  and 
not  waiting  to  hear  another  word  I  sought, 
found,  and  presented  Sheldon  Jackson. 

"True  yoke-fellow  and  brother  beloved,"  said 
Paul,  "we  are  physically  small — God  made  us 
short  that  we  might  accommodate  ourselves  to 
circumstances  and  magnify  His  grace.  I  rejoice 
that  primitive  zeal  still  flames  in  the  Church,  and 
that  here  and  in  foreign  lands  are  thousands  of 
standard  bearers  of   the  cross  who  may  not  rest 


46  NOMINATION  ADDRESSES. 

until  the  nations  that  sit  in  darkness  have  seen  a 
great  light — and  the  world  is  filled  with  the 
knowledge  of  God  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea; 
*  be  thou  faithful  unto  death  and  let  no  man  take 
thy  crown.'  " 

Moderator  and  brethren,  here  my  vision 
ends,  and  I  believe  in  my  soul  that  if  this 
Assembly  elects  this  missionary  leader  as  its 
standard-bearer,  that  act  will  be  as  a  trumpet  call 
to  missionary  endeavor,  and  our  whole  beloved 
Church  will  mark  time  in  a  forward  movement 
toward  the  conquest  of  this  and  all  other  lands 
for  Christ. 

It  is  related  that  when  an  iron  brigade  on  a 
field  of  battle  wavered  and  turned  to  retreat, 
there  appeared  before  them  an  old  revolutionary 
soldier  with  cocked  hat,  knee  breeches  and  flint- 
lock musket.  The  fires  of  '76  flashed  in  his  eyes, 
and  with  a  front  of  iron  he  faced  the  enemy. 
Then  it  was  that  some  one  cried,  "  The  spirits  of 
the  heroes  of  Lexington,  Trenton  and  Bunker 
Hill  are  with  us.  About  face — Double  quick — 
Charge!"  and  that  brigade  swept  the  field  as  a 
hail-storm  beats  down  a  field  of  grain. 

Oh!  that  the  inspiration  of  prophets,  apostles 
and  martyrs,  of  heroic  soldiers  of  the  cross  in  all 
ages  might  come  upon  us,  that  a  vision  of  the 
glorious  Master  Himself  pointing  to  the  home  and 
foreign  field  might  now  arrest  our  retreating 
steps — turn    us    with    united    front    toward    the 


NOMINATION  ADDRESSES.  47 

enemy,    and    lead   us   on   to  that  final   victory'  in 

which 

"  Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun 
Doth  his  successive  journeys  run  ; 
His  kingdom  stretch  from  shore  to  shore, 
Till  moons  shall  wax  and  wane  no  more." 


Rev.  Richard  M.  Hayes,  D.D.,  Pastor  of  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  La  Grande,  Ore. 

MR.  Moderator,  Fathers  and  Brethren: — 
We  have  listened  to  words  most  eloquent!}'' 
spoken  in  favor  of  the  persons  whose 
names  have  been  placed  in  nomination  for  the 
honored  position  of  Moderator,  and  we  know 
that  not  one  word  has  been  said  which  is  not  true. 
There  are  in  the  ranks  of  our  Church  men,  many 
of  them  of  eminent  ability,  in  whom  no  mistake 
could  be  made,  in  calling  them  to  the  highest 
position  in  the  gift  of  the  Church,  but  it  is  not  the 
question  of  the  mere  election  or  exaltation  to  the 
place  of  honor.  Mr.  Moderator,  there  are  ques- 
tions of  deep  and  vital  importance  to  be  sub- 
mitted for  the  action  of  the  General  Assembly  at 
this  time,  but  there  is  one  that  touches  the  very 
life  of  our  beloved  Church.  I  refer  now  to  the 
subject  of  Home  Missions.  Three  years  ago  a 
cloud  as  black  as  midnight  fell  upon  this  land. 
Men  stood  with  bated  breath.  The  wheels  of  in- 
dustry were  silent,  the  fountains  of  supply  were 


48  NOMINATION  ADDRESSES. 

cut  off.  All  business  was  paralyzed.  To  the 
pleading  cry,  "  Give  us  the  Gospel  "  in  our  great 
home  mission  fields,  the  hearts  of  the  home  mis- 
sionaries were  made  to  ache,  as  the  Board  would 
answer,  "We  must  retrench.  No  new  work  can 
be  undertaken  because  of  the  great  debt  already 
upon  the  Board."  I  came  as  a  commissioner  to 
this  Assembly  unpledged,  but  I  came  praying 
that  a  sentiment  might  develop  that  would  crys- 
tallize in  a  mighty  awakening  for  the  cause  of 
Christ  throughout  the  entire  Church.  I  have 
urged  upon  many  with  whom  I  have  conversed 
since  I  came  here  that  Home  Missions  be  made 
the  subject  of  this  Assembly,  that  we  kindle  anew 
the  fires  which  have  burned  so  low,  that  our  be- 
loved Church  may  move  on  for  fresh  conquests 
for  the  Master,  but  I  have  been  met  with  the 
statement  that  the  times  are  not  propitious,  that 
there  are  certain  things  to  be  adjusted  with  the 
Board  before  that  can  be  done,  and  any  action 
now  would  be  regarded  by  them  as  an  indorse- 
ment. I  hold  my  watch  in  my  hand.  I  detect  a 
speck  upon  the  crystal.  Shall  I  remove  the 
works  and  cast  them  from  me  because  there  is  a 
mote  upon  the  dial?  Mr.  Moderator,  Fathers  and 
Brethren,  shall  the  great  cause  of  Home  Missions 
stand  paralyzed  and  the  pleading  cry,  "  Give  us 
the  Gospel,"  be  smothered  or  go  unheeded,  while 
we  wait  the  adjustment  of  some  of  the  adminis- 
trative work  of  the  Board?     Let  us  not  make  a 


NOMINATION  ADDRESSES.  49 

mistake.  The  time  for  action  is  Now,  Now!  Let 
the  whole  Church  be  aroused.  Let  this  be  known 
as  the  Home  Missionary  Assembly.  We  have 
elected  Moderators  to  represent  the  Church,  the 
Press  and  Education.  Let  us  honor  ourselves  and 
advance  the  cause  of  Home  Missions  by  electing 
a  home  missionary  Moderator.  I  would  not  say 
one  word  against  the  other  candidates.  I  could 
not  if  I  would.  Dr.  Sample  is  "a  workman  who 
needeth  not  to  be  ashamed."  Dr.  Minton  is  a 
coast  man,  an  able  man,  a  parliamentarian.  I 
believe  all  I  have  heard  for  Jiim  and  more 
too.  You  have  heard  from  zealous  friends  of  his 
ability,  and  j^ou  have  heard  also  that  the  coast 
was  a  unit  for  him.  Our  vote  will  decide  that. 
But  among  the  very  many  able,  faithful  ministers 
of  our  beloved  Church,  there  is  one  whose  whole 
record  of  forty  years  of  service  stands  for  Home 
Missions.  A  man  whose  work  is  known  from  the 
Mississippi  to  our  farthest  northern  boundaries;  a 
man  whose  name  is  a  household  word  from 
where  the  orange  blossoms  waft  their  fragrance 
in  sunny  southland,  to  where  the  icy  crags  point 
their  glittering  spires  heavenward  in  far-off 
Alaska,  and  from  where  the  heaving  billows  of 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  dash  into  ten  thousand  spark- 
ling raindrops  on  New  England's  rock-bound 
coast  to  where  the  shining  sands  of  the  Golden 
Gate  are  laved  by  the  waters  of  the  mighty 
Pacific.     Mr.  Moderator,  Fathers  and  Brethren,  I 


so  NOMINATION  ADDRESSES. 

esteem  it  a  great  pleasure  to  be  permitted  to 
second  the  nomination  of  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson  to 
be  Moderator  of  the  109th  General  Assembly. 


Rev.  George  Whitefield  McMillan,  D.D.,  President  of  Rich- 
mond College,  Richmond,  Ohio. 

DR.  McMillan  arose  and  said: 
Mr.  Moderator,  Fathers  and  Breth- 
ren:— Inasmuch  as  some  of  the  commis- 
sioners think  that  there  has  been  enough  of  elo- 
quence already  displayed  in  electing  a  Moderator, 
I  will  assure  the  Assembly  that  I  am  not  an  elo- 
quent man.  But  I  desire  to  make  a  statement  or 
two.  I  feel  that  honor  ought  to  be  given  to 
whom  honor  is  due. 

About  forty  years  ago  it  was  my  high  privi- 
lege to  sit  in  the  chapel  of  Princeton  Theological 
Seminary  on  the  Holy  Sabbath  and  listen  to  Dr. 
McGill,  that  eloquent  pulpit  orator,  deliver  a 
masterly  sermon  on  the  subject  of  missions.  In 
the  course  of  the  argument  the  Doctor  seemed  to 
be  inspired  and,  looking  right  down  on  us  stu- 
dents, he  thrust  forward  his  hand  and  said: 
"  Young  men,  if  you  can't  be  first,  be  foremost !" 

After  the  service  was  over  a  young  man  who 
sat  by  me  in  the  chapel — a  pure,  holy,  heavenly 
minded,  consecrated  young  man — came  into  my 
room  and  said  that  was  a  very  excellent  sermon 


NOMIXA  TIOX  A  DDR  ESSES.  5 1 

to  which  we  listened  this  morning- — very  fine  was 
the  reply.  "But,  McMillan,  did  you  notice  that 
sentence?"  "  What  sentence?  What  sentence?  " 
was  the  answer.  "  *  Young  men.  if  you  can't  be 
first,  be  foremost !  '  I  can't  be  first,  I  zuill  be 
foremost."  That  young  man  was  Sheldon  Jack- 
son. Soon  after  this  he  graduated  in  the  Semi- 
nar}', was  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  to  preach 
the  Gospel,  married  to  a  young  lady  wholl}-  con- 
secrated to  the  Master's  service,  and  he  and  his 
esteemed  bride  started  westward  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  their  life's  work.  And  with  the 
Confession  of  Faith  in  one  hand  and  the  Bible  in 
the  other  and  Christ  in  his  heart,  he  has  gone  and 
planted  churches  all  over  the  West,  Northwest 
and  North,  returning  again  and  again  to  encour- 
age the  hearts  of  the  new  converts  and  new  mis- 
sionaries. Difficulties  were  not  a  few  and  must 
be  met — wintry  storms,  wild  beasts  and  savage 
men — but  he  met  and  conquered  all  these.  Clad 
in  the  furs  of  the  North,  he  pressed  through 
storm  and  cold  to  his  Master's  work.  And  when 
surrounded  by  beasts  of  prey,  and  men  more  sav- 
age than  they,  with  no  weapon  but  the  cross  of 
Christ,  the  shield  of  faith  and  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit,  he  went  right  forward,  planting  churches 
and  encouraging  missionaries.  I  will  mention 
one  incident,  which  doubtless  in  his  useful  life 
had  many  multiples.  It  was  a  cold  stormy  night; 
the    missionary   was    looking   for   the    quarterly 


52  NOMINATION  ADDRESSES. 

check,  long-  overdue,  but  was  informed  by  letter 
that  there  was  no  money  in  the  treasury  of  the 
Board;  that  missionaries  must  wait  still  longer  for 
their  pay.  There  was  no  coal  in  the  bin,  no  sup- 
plies in  the  larder,  the  garments  thin  and  thread- 
bare. The  missionary  reads  the  discouraging 
letter,  looks  at  his  dear  wife  and  dependent  chil- 
dren, tears  flow  from  their  eyes — they  all  fall 
upon  their  knees  and  pray  God  for  help.  They 
arise  with  sad  hearts.  A  cart  is  seen  coming 
along  the  road  drawn  by  a  pony;  it  stops  at  the 
gate;  the  pony  is  tied  to  the  fence;  a  little  man 
clad  in  furs  winds  his  way  to  the  humble  dwelling 
of  the  missionary;  a  daughter  looks  through  the 
window  and  cries  out,  "Oh,  mamma,  papa,  it  is, 
it  is  Sheldon  Jackson !  Things  will  he  better 
now.''  He  enters  the  house — is  received  with 
tears  of  gladness.  After  congratulations  the 
frugal  meal  is  prepared  and  eaten;  the  story  of 
their  distress  is  heard.  Dr.  Jackson  writes  a  brief 
letter  to  some  wealthy  church.  A  box  of  clothing 
and  a  generous  check  are  forwarded,  and  the 
family  is  happy  and  thank  God  and  bless  Dr. 
Jackson. 

His  name  and  fame  were  world  wide;  the 
whole  Church  had  confidence  in  his  word  and  in- 
tegrity; therefore,  his  ability  to  help  the  mission- 
aries.     His  presence  among  them  was  sunshine. 

Now,  Brethren,  here  is  a  man  who  has  spent 
so  many  years  of   suffering  and  hardship  in  the 


NOMINATION  ADDRESSES.  53 

mission  work  of  the  Church.  He  could  say  with 
the  apostle  to  the  churches  he  had  planted  and 
nourished:  "I  testify  by  your  rejoicing  which  I 
have  in  Christ  Jesus  I  die  daily."  Brethren,  I 
verily  believe  that  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson  is  the 
greatest  missionary  the  world  has  ever  seen  since 
the  apostle  Paul  went  far  hence  unto  the  Gentiles 
and  died  upon  the  scaffold. 

Second.  The  home  missionary  cause  has  a 
right  to  ask  the  Assembly  to  elect  a  home  mis- 
sionary as  its  Moderator.  The  learned  professor 
has  repeatedly  occupied  the  Moderator's  chair; 
the  cultured  and  eloquent  pastor  has  again  and 
again  moderated  the  Assembly.  I  myself  was  a 
member  of  the  Assembly  when  we  elected  Dr. 
Jessup  Moderator,  because  he  was  a  great  and 
good  man  and  a  foreign  missionary;  but  never 
has  a  home  missionary  as  such  been  chosen  by  the 
Assembly  to  this  high  honor.  Therefore  the 
home  missionary  cause  has  a  right  to  the  Modera- 
tor— the  cause  demands  it  and  the  home  mission- 
aries humbly  ask  it. 

Third.  If  ever  there  has  been  a  time  when 
the  home  missionaries  and  their  cause  needed 
recognition  it  is  now.  An  empty  treasury,  the 
Board  heavily  in  debt,  salaries  unpaid,  one-fourth 
of  the  meagre  pittance  promised  never  to  be 
paid.  Families  on  the  field  in  distress;  godly 
men  and  women  with  prayers  and  tears  looking 
to  this  Assembly  for  recognition  and  relief.     Now 


54  NOMINATION  ADDRESSES. 

what  ought  we  to  do?  What  must  we  do?  Shall 
we  say  to  those  godly  men  and  women  who  are 
sacrificing  all  for  Christ  that  we  will  not  interest 
ourselves  in  their  behalf,  and  that  of  the  great 
cause  in  which  you  are  engaged?  Brethren,  if 
ever  the  General  Assembly  is  to  recognize  the 
home  missionary  cause  and  to  honor  the  mission- 
aries, it  is  now.  Their  necessities  are  greater 
than  they  have  ever  been,  and  I  pray  God 
they  may  never  be  so  great  again.  They  offer 
you  their  greatest  missionary  and  they  can  never 
offer  you  a  greater.  What  then  shall  we  do 
now?  Shall  we  leave  the  dark  cloud  hanging 
over  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  missionaries, 
and  throw  the  wet  blanket  upon  the  cause — 
blessed  cause ! — which  is  at  once  the  cause  of  our 
Church  and  of  our  country.  But  I  am  reminded 
that  my  time  is  up.  I  therefore  second  the  nom- 
ination of  Dr.  Jackson,  and  pray  God  that  when 
the  votes  are  counted,  he  may  not  only  be  "  fore- 
most "  but  "first "  in  this  Assembly. 


CONGRATULATIONS 

BY 
TELEGRAPH 

AND 

MAIL. 


CONGRATULATIONS. 


Rev.  Robert  N,  Adams,  D.D,,  Superintendent  of  Home  Missions, 
Synod  of  Minnesota. 

Minneapolis,  Minn.,  June  29,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.  D.  : 

My  Dear  BrotJier: — I  wish  to  congratulate  you 
over  the  high  honor  so  worthily  received  and 
modestly  exercised  by  yourself.  It  was  a  just  and 
handsome  recognition  of  the  Home  Mission 
Department  of  our  beloved  Church.  With  many 
kind  wishes  I  remain, 

Very  cordially  and  fraternally  yours, 

R.  N.  Adams. 


Rev.  Arthur  H.  Allen,  Pastor  of  "Woodside  Presbyterian  Church. 

Troy,  N.  Y.,  May  21,  1897. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Jackson: 

I  rejoice  in  the  honor  which  has  come  to  an 
apostolic  home  missionary. 

Arthur  H.  Allen. 

57 


58  CONGRATULATIONS. 

John    Willis    Baer,    General    Secretary   of    United    Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor. 

Boston,  May  21,  1897. 
Rev,  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D,: 

The  writer  is  a  son  of  your  old  church  in 
Rochester,  Minn.,  and  knows  you  better  than  you 
know  him.  I  am  now  an  elder  in  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  this  city.  Permit  me 
first  to  congratulate  you  upon  the  election  of 
Moderator.  Count  upon  me  in  any  way  that  you 
desire  in  furthering  the  cause  of  missions,  or  in 
anything  else  that  will  tend  to  make  the  Presby- 
terian Church  the  power  that  God  wants  it  to  be. 

With  kind  regards, 

John  Willis  Baer. 


Mrs.  Charles  L.  Bailey,  President  of  the  Presbyterian  Woman's 
Society  of  Home  Missions,  Synod  of  Pennsylvania. 

Harrisburg,  Pa.,  June  12,  1897. 
Dear  Dr.  Jackson: 

Allow  me  to  congratulate  you  upon  the  happy 
way  you  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  General 
Assembly.  We  are  all  thankful  for  the  quiet 
result,  and  praise  God.  With  kind  regards  to 
yourself  in  the  love  of  Christ  and  the  blessed  hope 
of  His  return. 

Mrs.  Charles  L.  Bailey. 


CONGRATULATIONS.  59 

Rev.  Enos  P.  Baker^  President  of  Presbyterian  College. 

Del  Norte,  Colo.,  May  21,  1897. 
Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

Hearty  congratulations  on  the  Moderatorship. 
It  is  well  deserved  personally ;  and  I  hope  means 
much  for  Home  Missions.  May  God  guide  you 
and  the  Assembly.  Enos  P.  Baker. 


Rev.  Henry  M.  Booth,  D.D.,  LL.D,,  President  of  Theological 

Seminary. 

Auburn,  N.  Y.,  May  21,  1897. 
The  Reverend  Sheldon  Jackson: 

My  Dear  Sir: — I  rejoice  that  you  are  in  the 
Moderator's  chair.  No  man  in  our  Church  has 
rendered  more  conspicuous  and  important  service. 
You  know  what  Presbyterianism  is,  and  what  it 
should  be.  I  shall  be  surprised  if  the  General 
Assembly,  under  your  guidance,  does  not  become 
a  grand  Missionary  Convention.  This  is  what  we 
long  for.  "The  country  and  the  world  for 
Christ,"  should  be  our  watchword. 

Cordially  yours, 

Henry  M.  Booth. 


Hon.  John  G.  Brady,  Governor  of  Alaska. 

Washington,  D.  C,  May  21,  1897. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Jackson: 

I  have  just  read  in  the  Post,  the  news  of  your 
election  as  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly, 


6o  CONGRATULATIONS. 

one  of  the  noblest  body  of  men  on  this  earth.  I 
am  not  only  glad,  but  rejoice  that  you  have  been 
crowned  with  this  honor  toward  the  closing  years 
of  your  wonderful  life.  I  shall  call  at  once  to 
rejoice  with  those  who  do  rejoice  in  your  own 
home.  Yours  sincerely, 

John  G.  Brady. 


Rev.  Newman  H.  Burdick,  Pastor  Presbyterian  Church. 

Rochester,  Minn.,  May  22,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.  : 

The  Rochester  Presbyterian  Church  heartily 
congratulates  their  former  Pastor  on  his  election 
to  the  Moderatorship. 

Newman  H.  Burdick,  Pastor. 


Mrs.  Isabella  W.  Campbell. 

Washington,  D.C. ,  May  21,  1897. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Jackson: 

The  Church  has  honored  herself  in  selecting 
her  Moderator !  I  want  to  shake  hands  and  con- 
gratulate you  with  all  my  heart. 

It  is  an  augury  for  good  and  a  promise  for  the 
cause  of  righteousness  when  appreciation  is  be- 
stowed where  it  is  so  well  deserved  and  has  been 
so  nobly  earned. 

God  bless  you  now  and  always,  and  with  all 
needed  strength  and  wisdom  send  you  also  great 
joy  and  happiness  with  the  honor  which  is  to-day 


CONOR  A  TULA  TIONS.  6 1 

rejoicing  the  hearts  not  only  of  Presbyterians,  but 
of  all  Christians  the  whole  country  over. 

My  daughter  joins  with  me  in  congratulations 
and  remembrances  which  please  extend  to  any 
members  of  your  family  who  may  be  with  you. 

Very  sincerely, 

Isabella  W.  Campbell. 


Rev.  T.  S.  Chilis,  D.D. 

Washington,  D.C.,  May  21,  1897. 
Mv  Dear  Dr.  Jackson: 

While  not  exactly  in  the  fold  at  present,  I  can- 
not refrain  sending  you  my  sincere  congratula- 
tions on  your  election  as  Moderator  of  the 
General  Assembly.  It  is  what  I  had  hoped  for 
but  had  hardly  ventured  to  expect.  It  is  only  a 
just  recognition  of  such  service  to  the  Church  as 
no  one  else  has  been  privileged  to  render. 

My  family  join  me  in  congratulations  for  the 
present  and  best  wishes  for  the  future. 

Very  truly  yours, 
T.  S.  Childs. 


Rev.  Thomas  H.  Qeland,  D.D.,  Pastor  First  Presbyterian 

Church. 

Duluth,  Minn.,  May  21,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D. : 

My   Dear  Moderator :  —  Congratulations   from 
your  old  friend  and  colaborer. 

T.  H.  Cleland. 


62  CONGRATULATIONS. 

Thomas  Cochran,  Ruling  Elder,  Presbyterian  Church. 

St.  Paul,  Minn.,  May  23,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

Hearty   congratulations    on   the   well-deserved 
honor  of  the  Moderatorship.    Thomas  Cochran. 


Mrs.  John  R.  Cook. 

Rochester,  Minn.,  May  29,  1897. 
Rev.  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

My  loved  and  honored  pastor  of  "  Auld  Lang 
Syne,"  congratulations!  "  Honor  to  whom  honor 
is  due." 

Ever  since  the  names  of  candidates  for  Mod- 
erator of  the  General  Assembly  for  the  year  have 
been  discussed,  I  have  been  greatly  interested  on 
account  of  your  name  being  among  the  number. 
When  I  saw  in  the  reports  that  you  were  the  suc- 
cessful man,  I  felt  very  much  elated  over  it. 

I  also  enjoyed  Dr.  Spining's  Saul  of  Tarsus 
comparison.  Frances  S.  Cook. 


Mrs.  James  G.  Craighead  and  Miss  Alice  W.  Craighead. 

Hammerfest,  Norway,  July  2,  1897. 
Dear  Mrs.  Jackson: 

It  seems  most  appropriate  that  mother  should 
send  her  congratulations,  to  which  please  add 
mine,  upon  your  husband's  high  honors,  from 
this  the  most  northern  city  in  the  world. 

These   bald   mountains  and  the  Arctic  Ocean 


CONGRATULATIONS.  63 

suggest  Dr.   Jackson's  labors  in  a  similar  region, 
where  doubtless  he  is  at  present. 

Through  the  General  Assembly  the  Church  has 
recognized  his  indefatigable  toil  and  triumphs  in 
her  behalf  and  crowned  them  by  the  greatest  gift 
she  could  bestow. 

In  the  words  of  the  late  Moderator,  may  the 
present  one  have  "  a  Good  Year."  Not  only  may 
Dr.  Jackson  have  a  good  year,  but  his  whole 
family,  the  Church  and  the  great  cause  for  which 
he  stands.  Sincerely  yours, 

Alice  W,  Craighead. 


Rev.  J.  N.  Crocker,  D,D.,  Superintendent  of  Synodical  Missions 

for  New  York. 

Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y.,  May  22,  1897. 
Dear  Brother  Jackson: 

Congratulations  from    your  old-time  friend  of 
the  Presbytery  of  Albany.  J.  N.Crocker. 


Mrs.  Cyrus  Dickson, 

Philadelphia,  Pa.,  May  21,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.  : 

With  sincerest  congratulations  to  Dr.  Jackson 
and  truest  wishes  for  an  Assembly  wholly  guided 
and  controlled  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Mrs.  Dickson. 


64  CONG R A  TULA  TIONS. 

Miss  Margaret  Dickson. 

Philadelphia,  Pa.,  May  21,  1897. 
Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

With  sincere  congratulations  on  the  election 
and  best  wishes  for  guidance  and  blessings  on  the 
labors  of  the  place.  Miss  Dickson. 


William  F.  Doty,  Princeton  University, 

Washington,  D.  C,  May  21,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.  D.  : 

Dear  Sir: — The  news  of  your  election  as  Moder- 
ator of  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly 
reached  us  by  the  morning  paper.  In  behalf  of 
mother  and  sister,  as  well  as  for  myself,  I  would 
extend  to  you  the  heartiest  congratulations.  It  is 
a  tribute  of  the  esteem  and  affection  of  the  Church, 
this  recognition  of  your  qualifications  for  the 
highest  office  in  her  gift,  and  a  testimonial  of  her 
appreciation  of  your  life-long  labors  in  the  mission 
field. 

May  our  Heavenly  Father  give  you  the  higher 
wisdom  to  enable  you  to  discharge  your  very 
responsible  duties  to  the  furthering  of  His 
Kingdom. 

You  are  soon  to  go  again  on  a  dangerous  and 
tedious  journey  to  the  far  North.  May  you  be 
preserved  in  health  and  strength  during  many 
years  in  which  you  serve  the  Master. 

With  kind  regards  from  mother  and  sister,  I  am 
Sincerely  yours,     William  F.  Doty. 


CONGRATULATIONS.  65 

Education,  U,  S.  Bureau  of.   Room  J3. 

Washington,  D.C.,  May  21,  1897. 
Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

Heartiest  congratulations  from  "Room  13:" 
Mrs.  H.  F.  Hovey,  Mrs.  F.  K.  Evans,  Miss  C.  G. 
Forbes,  Miss  E.  T.  Chester. 


Miss  Alice  C.  Fletcher,  Fellow  of  Peabody  Museum,  Harvard 

University. 

Washington,  D.  C,  June  17,  1897. 
My  Dear  Mrs.  Jackson: 

I  learned  from  the  Independent  of  the  honor 
which  has  been  shown  your  noble  husband,  and 
just  as  I  was  going  up  to  see  you  and  him,  I  was 
told  the  Doctor  was  off,  and  you  too  were  gone, 
and  I  knew  not  where  to  send  my  hearty  words  of 
sympathy  and  rejoicing.  Now  that  I  find  you  are 
here,  I  shall  hope  to  see  you,  if  the  heat  will  only 
abate  a  little. 

I  have  written  "the  honor  shown"  your 
husband,  but  I  think  the  chair  of  Moderator  was 
never  so  honored  as  when  it  was  filled  by  Dr. 
Jackson.  I  count  it  one  of  the  honors  of  my  life 
that  I  have  been  permitted  to  know  him  so  well, 
and  to  love  him  for  his  grandeur  of  Christian 
spirit.  I  am  so  glad  that  the  Church  has  done 
the  right  thing  in  so  recognizing  his  great  work, 
and  I  trust  that  the  prayer  of  his  heart  may  be 
answered,  and  that  there  will  be  a  great  awaken- 


66  CONGRATULATIONS. 

ing-  of  the  missionary  spirit,  for,  as  Gen.  Harrison 
said  in  his  speech  when  presenting  the  gavel,  it 
is  a  revival  of  the  spirit  of  the  Master  among  His 
followers. 

My  love  to  you,  dear  Mrs.  Jackson,  for  you  too 
share  in  the  Doctor's  labors  and  fame,  and  to  your 
daughters.  Sincerely  your  friend, 

Alice  C.  Fletcher, 


Rev.  John  L.  Gage,  Pastor  of  Presbyterian  Church, 

New  Sharon,  Iowa,  May  21,  1897. 
Dear  Brother  Jackson: 

Accept  congratulations,  and  best  of  all  because 
the  honor  was  deserved.  In  discussing  probabili- 
ties this  A.M.,  I  said  to  Mrs.  Gage,  "Dr.  Jackson 
never  has  failed  in  anything  he  undertook, 
whether  it  was  to  hang  a  map  on  a  wall  or  carry 
the  Gospel  to  Alaska." 

God  bless  you,  guide  you,  and  make  the 
Assembly  home  missionary  in  every  fibre  of  its 
organization, 

Mrs.  Gage  joins  in  congratulations  and  thinks  it 
would  have  been  a  greater  honor  to  vote  for 
Sheldon  Jackson  for  Moderator  of  General 
Assembly  than  for  William  McKinley  for  President 
of  the  United  States.  Your  Brother, 

John  L,  Gage. 


CONG R A  TULA  TIONS.  67 

A.  W.  Green, 

Brick  Church,  N.  J.,  May  21,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

Congratulations  a  little  late,  but  none  the  less 
sincere.  A.  W.  Green. 


Rev.  Fred  H.  Gwynne,  D.D.,  Pastor  of  Presbyterian  Church. 

Great  Falls,  Montana,  June  3,  1897. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Jackson: 

t  Allow  me  to  congratulate  you  upon  attaining 
the  Moderatorship  of  the  General  Assembly  and 
for  the  grace  given  to  fill  the  chair  to  your  great 
credit  and  to  the  benefit  of  the  Church  you  have 
so  long  and  faithfully  served. 

Sincerely  yours, 

F.   H.    GWYNNE. 


Rev.  C.  A.  Haehnle,  Pastor  of  Moravian  Church. 

Hope,  Indiana,  May  21,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

Allow  me  to  congratulate  you  on  your  election 
as  Moderator.  May  your  administration  of  the 
duties  of  the  office  be  very  successful. 

C.  A.  Haehnle. 


68  CONG R A  TULA  TIONS. 

William  Hamilton,  Assistant  Agent  of  Education  for  Alaska. 
Washington,  D.  C,  May  21,  1897. 
Dr.  Jackson: 

Please   accept    sincerest   congratulations,    with 
kindest  regards  to  you  and  Miss  Jackson. 

William  Hamilton. 


Rev.  Teunis  S.  Hamlin,  D.D.,  Pastor  of  the  Church  of  the 

Covenant. 

Washington,  D.  C. ,  May  21,  1897. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Jackson: 

Most  hearty  congratulations  on  your  election. 
It  is  a  pure  example  of  merit  rewarded.  I  rejoice 
with  all  my  heart ;  and  feel  a  little  honest  pride 
that  my  parishioner  and  friend  got  there. 

God  bless  and  guide  you,  and  may  the  Assembly 
be  one  of  peace  and  progress  all  along  the  lines 
of  advance.  Cordially  yours, 

Teunis  S.  Hamlin. 


Washington,  D.  C,  May  21,  1897. 
Dear  Mrs.  Jackson: 

I  congratulate  you  most  heartily  on  your  dear 
husband's  election  as  Moderator  of  General 
Assembly.  It  is  a  well-earned  and  fully  deserved 
honor,  which  is  all  one  could  say  should  he  write 
a  dozen  pages.      May  God  guide  him. 

Ever  yours. 

Teunis  S.  Hamlin. 


CONG R A  TULA  TIONS.  69 

John  G.  Heid. 

Juneau,  Alaska,  June  4,  1897. 
Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

Mrs.  Heid  joins  me  in  sending  congratulations 
upon  your  choice  as  Moderator,  by  the  Assembly ; 
a  success  you  richly  deserve.         John  G.  Heid. 


Miss  Olga  Hilton^  Missionary  in  Alaska. 

Sitka,  Alaska,  June  14,  1897. 
Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

Please  accept  our  congratulations.  How  glad 
we  were  when  we  heard  that  you  were  the 
honored  one.     It  seems  so  good. 

Olga  Hilton, 


Mrs,  Melancthon  Hughes, 

Reedsburg,  Wis.,  May  21,  1897, 
Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

My  Dear  Sir: — Allow  me  to  add  my  congratu- 
lations at  your  election  as  Moderator  of  the 
General  Assembly.  The  news  has  just  come  to 
me,  and  I  greatly  rejoice  in  it.  I  have  never 
ceased  to  hold  you  in  grateful  remembrance,  for 
your  kindness  to  me  and  mine  years  ago — or  to 
rejoice  in  the  successes  which  have  continually 
crowned  your  efforts.  Respectfully  yours, 

s  E.  M.  Hughes. 


70  CO  NCR  A  TULA  7  IONS. 

Darwin  R.  James,  Ruling  Elder,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Member 
of  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

New  York,  May  22,  1897. 
Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.  : 

Accept  my  congratulations — they  are  late,  but 
very  hearty.  Darwin  R.  James. 


Prof.  James  D.  Kerr,  Theological  Seminary. 

Omaha,  Neb.,  May  25,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

My  Dear  Brother: — Permit  an  old  friend  to 
extend  to  you  his  hearty  congratulations  upon  the 
well-merited  honor  which  has  fallen  to  your  lot 
at  the  hands  of  your  brethren.  Mrs.  Kerr  and  I 
expressed  to  each  other  the  wish  that  you  might 
be  chosen  as  Moderator,  and,  of  course,  were 
gratified  that  the  result  was  a  confirmation  of  our 
hope.  It  was  right  that  "Home  Missions" 
should  be  thus  recognized,  and  at  the  same  time 
that  the  recognition  should  be  in  and  through  the 
choice  of  the  oldest  Synodical  missionary  extant 
and  the  best  representative  of  genuine  Home 
Missions. 

In  honoring  you  the  Assembly  has  honored  the 
cause  you  have  so  long  and  so  well  represented.  I 
am  sure  you  will  wear  your  crown  gracefully  and 
modestly,  and  that  your  tailor  will  not  have  to 
lengthen  his  tape  line  the  next  time  he  measures 
you,  nor  your  hatter  his  block. 


CONGRATULATIONS.  71 

I  hope  Mrs.  Jackson  is  present  to  share  in  some 
measure  in  the  honors  of  the  occasion. 

Very  truly,  your  brother, 

J.  D.  Kerr. 


Rev.  Thomas  C.  Kirkwood,  D.D.,  Superintendent  Presby- 
terian Missions,  Synod  of  Colorado. 

Colorado  Springs,  May  22,  1897. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Jackson: 

You  will  not  feel  that  I  am  out  of  place 
in  addressing  the  Moderator  of  the  General 
Assembly — simply  to  express  my  pleasure  that 
you  are  in  that  office,  and  to  congratulate  an  old 
friend  on  his  well-deserved  promotion. 

Very  truly  yours, 

T.    C.    KiRKWOOD, 


Rev.  E.  Trambull  Lee,  D.D.,  Pastor  of  the  Second 
Presbyterian  Church. 

Cincinnati,  O.,  May  21,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.  : 

My  Dear  Brother: — I  want  to  congratulate  you 
most  heartily  on  your  recent  election  as  Mod- 
erator of  the  General  Assembly.  It  gives  the 
Home  Missionary  interests  a  punctuated  emphasis 
it  has  not  had.  Very  cordially  yours, 

E.  Truimbull  Lee. 


72  CONG R A  7  ULA  TIONS. 

Miss  Ida  M.  McCall,  Professor  in  Knox  College. 

Galesburg,  111.,  May  21,  1897. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Jackson: 

The  morning'  papers  brought  us  the  welcome 
tidings  of  your  election  as  Moderator.  My 
mother  and  I  have  been  greatly  interested  in  the 
probabilities  and  are  delighted  with  the  result. 
Please  accept  our  heartiest  congratulations. 

Ida  M.  McCall. 


Rev.  Johnston  McGaughey,  Pastor  of  Presbyterian  Church. 

Kossuth,  la.,  June  3,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.  : 

My   Dear   Doctor: — Congratulations    for    your 
new  honor  and  additional  labor. 

Most  fraternally  yours, 

J.  McGaughey. 


Rev.  D.J.  McMillan,  D.D.,  Secretary  of  Board  of  Home 
Missions,  Presbyterian  Church. 

New  York,  May  21,  1897. 

Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

Congratulations  on   climbing  the  highest  peak 

of  the  rockiest  mountain.  D.  J.  McMillan. 


Rev.  Joseph  M.  McNulty,  D.D.,  Pastor  of  Presbyterian  Church, 

Woodbridge,  N.  J.,  June  4,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.  : 

My  Dear  Friend  and  Brother  : — First  of  all  let 
me  congratulate  you  on  the  honor  so  deservedly 


CONGRATULATIONS.  73 

conferred  and  so  gracefully  worn  in  connection 
with  the  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  of  our 
Presbyterian  Church — a  tribute  to  personal  work 
and  to  the  Home  Mission  cause  at  the  same  time. 

Yours  fraternally, 

Joseph  M.  McNulty. 


Rev.  M.  G.  Mann,  Sunday-school  Missionary,  Presbytery 
of  Walla  WaUa. 

Lewiston,  Ida.,  May  24,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.  D.  : 

I  heartily  congratulate  you  and  the  home  mis- 
sionary cause  that  you,  its  representative  and  ex- 
ponent, were  honored  with  the  Moderatorship 
of  the  General  Assembly.  I  believe  I  echo  the 
sentiments  of  the  whole  Northwest  wing  of  the 
Church.  Home  Mission  has  voiced  itself  in  your 
selection  as  its  standard-bearer,  and  will  receive 
new  stimulus  and  strength. 

Cordially  and  fraternally  yours, 

M.  G.  Mann. 


Edward  S.  Marsden,  Lane  Theological  Seminary. 

Cincinnati,  O.,  May  21,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

Congratulations  from  Alaska  and  your  friends. 

Edward  S.  Marsden. 


74  CONG R A  TULA  TIONS. 

John  C.  Martin. 

New  York,  May  21,  1897. 
Dear  Dr.  Jackson: 

Mrs.  Martin  and  myself  are  more  than  pleased 
at  your  election  of  Moderator  of  the  General 
Assembly,  while  it  was  not  unexpected  to  us. 
For  we  felt  that  the  cause  that  you  have  given 
your  life  should  and  would  be  honored  through  you. 
With  the  best  wishes  for  your  good  health  and 
prosperity,  I  am  yours  truly, 

John  C.  Martin. 


Rev.  William  S.  Miller,  Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church. 

Grafton,  Pa.,  May  21,  1897. 
Rev.  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson  : 

My  Dear  Dr.  Jackson  : — Permit  me  to  express 
my  sincere  congratulations  that  the  Ghurch  has 
honored  herself  in  making  you  the  Moderator  of 
the  General  Assembly.  I  am  so  glad,  for  no  one 
deserves  it  more  than  yourself.  I  trust  you  will 
have  a  good  Assembly  and  be  able  for  all  the 
hard  strain. 

Wishing  you  much  blessing  in  your  high  honor 
and  divine  guidance.        Yours  with  regard, 

William  S.  Miller. 


Rev.  James  V.  Milligan,  Pastor  of  First  Presbyterian  Church. 

910  State  Street,  Boise,  Ida.,  May  21,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.  : 

Dear  Dr.  Jackson  :  —This  morning's  paper  con- 


CONG R A  TULA  TIONS.  75 

tains  the  information  that  you  are  Moderator. 
Served  you  right.  I  am  glad  of  it.  And  hasten 
to  extend  my  congratulations  and  best  wishes  for 
a  successful  and  delightful  Assembly.  While  I 
am  not  at  present  a  home  missionan-,  I  think  I 
am  just  as  much  interested  in  Home  Missions  as 
ever,  and  am  anxious  that  this  Assembly  do 
something  to  press  fon%-ard  that  cause.  That  one 
who  has  given  his  life  to  Home  Missions  is  chosen 
Moderator  may  be  taken  as  an  indication  that  the 
subject  will  have  full  consideration. 

May  the  Lord  guide  and  help  you  in  all  the 
difficult  duties  that  are  thus  put  upon  you,  and 
may  He  direct  all  the  deliberations  of  the  As- 
sembly. Yours  fraternally, 

J.    V.    MiLLIGAN. 


Rev.  E.  D.  Morris,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  Lsine  Theological 
Seminary,  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly,  1875. 

Columbus,  O.,  yicKX  24,  1S97. 
My  Dear  Jacksox: 

I  write  simply  to  express  my  great  satisfaction 
in  your  election  as  Moderator,  and  for  these  rea- 
sons. First  of  all,  it  is  a  fit  recognition  of  your 
many  years  of  faithful  and  severe  labors  for  the 
Church;  and,  secondly,  it  is  an  indorsement  of 
that  great  Home  Mission  work,  which  I  have  so 
long  regarded  as  the  crowning  glory  of  our 
Church  in  this  generation. 


76  CONG  RA  TULA  TIONS. 

In  your  administration  I  may  commend  to  your 
notice  one  rule  which  I  followed  implicitly  in 
1875:  namely,  to  wash  the  slate  clean  every  night, 
leaving  nothing  go  over  if  possible  till  the  next 
day.  It  is  the  only  way  to  have  a  short  and 
happy  session. 

Wishing  you  abundant  success  in  what  will 
probably  be  the  most  laborious  fortnight  of  your 
life,  I  am,  Very  cordially  yours, 

E.  D.  Morris. 


Rev.  George  Norcross,  D.D.,  Pastor  of  Second  Presbyterian 

Church. 

Carlisle,  Pa.,  May  21,  1897. 
Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

Well,  here  are  our  congratulations!  I  do  not 
know  which  deserves  the  most — the  Moderator  or 
Eaton.  George  Norcross. 


Rev.  R.  M.  Patterson,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Pastor  of  the  Great 
Valley  Presbyterian  Church. 

Malvern,  Pa.,  May  21,  1897. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Jackson: 

If  I  were  at  Winona  I  would  give  you  a  con- 
gratulatory shake  of  the  hand.  As  I  am  tied  at 
home  by  some  preaching  and  other  engagements, 
I  do  it  by  letter. 

Your  election  is  a  deserved  tribute  to  a  splendid 
missionary  record. 


CONOR  A  TULA  TIONS.  77 

Old  and  pleasant  associations  from  seminary- 
days  enable  me  to  express  pleasure  at  the  honor 
put  upon  you. 

God  bless  and  help   you  in   the  arduous  duties 
that  have  been  imposed  upon  you. 
Very  truly  yours, 

R.  M.  Patterson. 


Stanton  J.  Pcele,  Judge  U.  S.  Court  of  Claims,  and  A.  R. 
Quaiffe,  Treasury  Department. 

Washington,  May  21,  1897. 

Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.  D.  : 

The   concord  in  general  and  the  shareholders 

and  manager  in  particular,  congratulate  you  and 

the  Church  on  your  election. 

Peele  and  Quaiffe. 


Rev.  Wallace  Radcliffe,  D  D.,  Pastor  of  the  New  York 
Avenue  Presbyterian  Church. 

Washington,  D.C.,  May  21,  1897. 
Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

Exactly  the  right  thing — hearty  congratulations 
— the  morning  cometh.      Selah. 

Wallace  Radcliffe. 


Rev.  John  G.  Reid,  Pastor  Presbyterian  Church. 

Greeley,  Colo.,  May  26,  1897. 
To  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

I  wish  not  to  take  more  of  your  valuable  time 
than  to  acquaint  you  with  the  great  pleasure  your 


78  CONG R A  TULA  7 IONS. 

elevation  to  an  honor  so  fittingly  yours  gave  the 
son  of  Alexander  Reid,  of  Spencer  Academy,  In- 
dian Territory,  the  "boy"  you  sent  out  to 
Boulder  twenty  years  ago  (May  27,  1877,  I 
preached  my  first  sermon  in  Colorado),  the  strip- 
ling to  whom  you  so  gracefully,  sixteen  years  ago, 
yielded  the  honors,  perquisites,  emoluments, 
prerogatives,  labors  of  Superintendent  of  Presby- 
terian Missions  for  the  Synod  of  Colorado.  For 
thirteen  years  now  pastor  of  the  church  you  or- 
ganized in  Barnum's  Hall,  August,  1870,  with  ten 
members,  of  whom  three  continue  by  the  help  of 
God  unto  this  day.  The  original  elder  whom  you 
ordained  that  day  (still  an  elder),  Lewis  W. 
Teller,  his  wife  and  oldest  daughter — I  send  per- 
sonal greetings,  official  from  our  Session,  and 
such  members  of  the  church  as  remember  you  so 
well. 

Mrs.  Reid,  daughter  of  Rev.  John  F.  Stewart, 
of  Evans,  also  salutes  the  Moderator.  Our 
tender  regards  to  Mrs.  Jackson  and  your  family. 

Yours  in  His  service, 

John  G.  Reid. 


Rev.  Clarence  G.  Reynolds,  Pastor  of  First  Presbyterian 

Church, 

Joliet,  111.,  May  27,  1897. 
Dear  Dr.  Jackson: 

I  congratulate  you  upon  your  great   success  in 

the  Moderator's  chair.     Clarence  G.  Reynolds, 


CONGRA  TULA  TIONS.  7  9 

Rev.  C,  Herbert  Richardson,  Pastor  Fayette  Street 
Methodist  E.  Church. 

Baltimore,  Md.,  May  25,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.  : 

Accept  my  hearty  congratulations  on  your  elec- 
tion to  the  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
your  Church. 

It  is  a  great  honor  and  well  deserved.  I  am 
glad  to  note  that  the  great  Church  of  which  you 
are  a  member  puts  in  high  place  the  men  who 
work  on  the  frontier  line. 

C.  Herbert  Richardson. 


Mrs.  C.  L.  Roach,  Corresponding  Secretary  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sion Society,  Baltimore  Conference,  Methodist  E.  Church. 

Washington,  D.C.,  June  i,  1897. 
Congratulations  on  the  high  office  and  honors 
bestowed  upon  you  at  your  recent  Church  gather- 
ing. You  well  deserved  all  the  attention  you  re- 
ceived, and  it  has  given  pleasure  to  your  many 
friends.  Clara  L.  Roach. 


James  B.  Roberts  and  Charles  Geddes,  Ruling  Elders, 
Presbyterian  Church. 

San  Francisco,  Cal.,  May  21,  1897. 
Rev.  Dr.  Jackson: 

My  Dear  Sir: — We  have  just  learned  of  your 
election  to  the  Moderatorship  of  our  General 
Assembly,    and    hasten   to   congratulate   you   on 


8o  CONG R A  TULA  TIONS. 

your  elevation  to  that  high  office ;  an  honor  which 
you  so  richly  desen^e. 

May  God  bless  )'ou  in  the  exercise  of  the 
arduous  duties  of  the  office,  and  in  all  other 
work  that  He  has  for  you  to  do  in  your  remaining 
years,  and  may  they  be  many 

Come  and  give  us  a  missionary'  address.  A 
live  Moderator  of  our  General  Assembly,  who  has 
been  to  Behring  Sea  and  Point  Barrow,  would 
be  a  rare  avis  in  San  Francisco.  Again  I  say, 
Come.  Yours, 

James  B.  Roberts. 


Rev.  Thomas  H.  Robinson,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  "Western 
Theological  Seminary,  Allegheny,  Pa. 

Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  May  21,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.  : 

My  Dear  Doctor: — I  have  just  read  aloud  to 
my  wife  from  the  morning  paper  the  account  of 
your  election  to  the  Moderatorship  of  the  General 
Assembly.  We  both  rejoiced  over  it  and  now 
send  your  our  joint  and  hearty  congratulations. 
It  is  a  worthy  recognition  of  your  long  and 
devoted  service  in  behalf  of  the  Church  and  the 
cause  of  Home  Missions. 

We  left  home  at  the  close  of  the  Seminary  and 
are  spending  a  few  weeks  in  this  charming  part  of 


CONOR  A  TULA  TIONS.  8 1 

the    Pacific    coast.      Do   not    trouble   yourself    to 
send  any  reply  to  this  letter. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

T.  H.  Robinson. 


Rev.  David  S.  Schaff,  D.D.,  Pastor  of  Wcstminstcf  Presby- 
terian Church  and  Professor-elect  of  Lane 
Theological  Seminary. 

Jacksonville,  111. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Jackson: 

My  early  enthusiasm  for  Home  Missions  was 
fed  by  yourself  and  Timothy  Hill,  the  two 
intrepid  far-seeing  generals  on  the  great  Home 
Mission  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi.  The 
Rocky  Mountain  Presbyterian — how  it  stirred  me 
in  those  days,  like  streams  of  cool  and  pure  water 
from  the  Alps  themselves! 

I  am  delighted  that  you  are  Moderator  of  the 
General  Assembly,  for  your  election  is  a  just 
tribute  to  that  fine  body  of  pioneers,  whose 
history  will  all  soon  belong  to  a  period  of  the 
past,  and  of  which  you  are  the  most  distinguished 
living  representative.  Although  I  go  to  Lane, 
my  interest  in  the  Home  Mission  field  is  strong 
and  permanent,  and  my  concern  for  the  workers 
warm  and  tender. 

I  cannot  help  but  say  these  few  words,  and  I 
am  your  friend.  David  S.  Schaff. 


82  CONGRATULATIONS. 

Mrs.  Henry  Sheldon,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  June  21,  1897. 
Dear  Sheldon  Jackson: 

Allow  me  to  congratulate  you  on  your  success- 
ful administration  as  Moderator  of  the  General 
Assembly. 

We  are  all  very  proud  of  you. 

Yours  faithfully, 

Celia  E.  Sheldon. 


Miss  Florence  Stephenson,  Principal  of  Home  Industrial  School. 

Asheville,  N.  C,  May  24,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.  : 

Dear  Dr.  Jackson: — I  write  to  congratulate  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  the  Assembly  and  the  work 
of  Home  Missions  on  your  being  made  Mod- 
erator. I  know  you  have  time  to  read  only  a 
word  and  I  will  close  by  saying  that  the  Assem- 
bly meeting  is  remembered  at  our  family  altar 
both  morning  and  evening.  You  do  not  know 
how  much  it  meant  to  me  to  be  with  you  those 
few  hours  in  New  York,  and  your  parting,  "  God 
bless  you !  "  will  give  me  inspiration  all  my  days. 

Yours  with  esteem, 

Florence  Stephenson. 


\9  H/\  R  y 

CONG R A  TULA  TIONS.  83 

Rev.  Charles  L.  Thompson,  D  D.,  LL.D.,  Pastor  of  Madison 

Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  Moderator  of  General 

Assembly,   1 808. 

New  York,  May  21,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.  : 

Congratulations  and  blessings  on  you  and  the 
Home  Mission  Assembly. 

Charles  L.  Thompson. 


Rev.  W.  O.  Thompson,  D.D.,  President  Miami  University. 

Oxford,  O.,  May  21,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

My  Dear  Brother: — I  am  very  much  pleased  to 
see  that  you  are  Moderator  of  the  General 
Assembly.  I  spent  three  years  in  Iowa  as  a 
home  missionary  and  six  years  in  Colorado,  where 
I  heard  of  your  work.  I  have  never  met  you,  but 
I  rejoice  in  the  work  you  have  done  and  in  this 
recognition  by  the  Church. 

Mrs.  Thompson  rejoices  too  because  her  father 
— Charles  H.  Clark,  Cleveland — is  a  distant 
relative — second  cousin,  I  think.  My  wife's 
grandmother  was  Ruth  Sheldon  and  her  brother 
bears  the  name  Sheldon  Clark.  We  are  all 
happy  therefore  over  your  election.  I  hope  you 
may  have  a  delightful  session.  I  regret  that 
public  engagements  and  college  duties  combine  to 
keep  me  away  from  the  Assembly. 

Yours  very  cordially, 
W.  O.  Thompson, 


84  C  ONGRA  TULA  TIONS. 

William  "Wadhams,  Ruling  Elder. 

Portland,  Ore.,  June  8,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.  : 

I  was  delighted  to  know  that  you  were  elected 
Moderator.  It  was  only  a  proper  recognition  of 
your  long-continued  service  as  a  home  missionary, 
and  I  am  sure  my  pastor  was  delighted  to  vote  for 
you  as  I  know  he  did.  William  Wadhams. 


Rev.  Jacob  Wcidman. 

Clifton  Heights,  May  24,  1897. 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D. : 

I  congratulate  you  on  your  election  as  Moder- 
ator— a  crown  for  your  labors  for  Home  Missons 
in  the  West  and  Northwest,  which  I  know 
gratifies  you  as  the  highest  testimony  our  Church 
could  bestow.  I  hope  it  will  be  the  earnest  of 
still  greater  usefulness  in  them,  and  pray  that 
God  may  add  other  crowns  to  your  labors  in  years 
to  come.  Jacob  Weidman. 


Miss  Frances  E.  Willard,  President  of  National  Woman's 
Christian   Temperance  Union. 

168  Brattle  Street, 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  May  23,  1897. 
Rev.  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson: 

Honored  and  Dear  Brother: — I  never  wrote  to  a 
Moderator  to  rejoice  that  he  had  attained   that 


CONG R A  TULA  TIONS.  85 

high  position  in  the  great  Church  of  the  Presbyter, 
but  you  are  one  of  my  heroes.  You  have  stood 
for  all  our  Gospel  means,  not  in  a  luxurious  parish 
or  splendid  college,  but  out  yonder  on  the  edge  of 
things  where  God's  most  friendless  children  turn 
toward  you  the  eyes  of  pathos  and  hope.  Most  of 
all  have  those  downtrodden  women  of  Alaska 
been  blessed  by  work  that  you  have  done  or  have 
inspired,  and  not  a  woman  lives  who  has  a  brain 
to  think  who  can  fail  to  look  upon  you  as  one  of 
the  blessed  reappearances  of  the  primitive  man  of 
Christ  in  an  age  that  needs  such  men  more  than 
it  needs  gold  or  tariff.  God  bless  you  and  nerve 
your  brave  arm  for  even  stronger  strokes  of  grace 
against  the  accursed  liquor  traffic  and  every  other 
form  of  cruelty,  is  the  prayer  of 

Your  Christian  Sister, 

Frances  E.  Willard.     ' 


Waiiam  R.  Worrall,  Elder,  New  York  City. 

New  York,  May  21,  1897. 
Dear  Dr.  Jackson: 

I  write  to  heartily  congratulate  you  on  the 
reward  that  has  come  to  you  even  in  this  world. 
I  am  heartily  glad  of  your  election  to  the  high 
place.  May  God  bless  you  richly  in  executing 
His  work  in  the  Moderatorship,  as  we  feel  He  has 
in  the  more  humble  but  no  less  blessed  work  on  the 
mission  field.     I  wish  I  could  be  there  to  see  you 


86  COi\  GRA  TULA  TIONS. 

honored.  Remember  that  as  Moderator  we  claim 
your  presence  here  in  the  month  of  October  at 
our  celebration  (by  Presbytery  and  Presbyterian 
Union)  of  the  adoption  of  our  standards.  I  write 
thus  early  that  you  may  keep  other  things  out  of 
the  road. 

By  our  Constitution  (Presbyterian  Union)  you 
are  by  virtue  of  your  office  an  honorary  member 
of  the  Union,  and,  as  before  I  have  said  to  you,  we 
will  always  be  glad  to  have  you  with  us.  With 
hearty  congratulations  and  best  wishes,  I  am. 
Very  truly  and  fraternally  yours, 

William  Worrall. 


THE   PRESS. 


THE  PRESS. 


[New  York  Tribune,  May  21,  J 897.] 

THE  Rev.  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson  was  elected 
Moderator  of  the  Presbyterian  General 
Assembly  to-day.  He  was  born  in  May, 
1834.  After  being  graduated  at  Union  College  in 
1855,  he  entered  upon  his  theological  studies  at 
Princeton,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Albany  in  May,  1857.  The  next 
year,  also  in  May,  he  was  graduated  from  the 
seminary,  and  ordained.  In  May,  1858,  he 
married  Miss  Mary  Voorhees,  and  shortly  after- 
ward the  young  couple  became  home  mission- 
aries. 

Many  honors  have  come  to  Dr.  Jackson  in  the 
thirty-nine  Mays  that  have  intervened  since  his 
ordination.  To-day  the  highest  honor  of  all — the 
Moderatorship  of  the  General  Assembly — was 
conferred  upon  him  by  a  vote  of  seventy-five  in 
excess  of  that  received  by  a  combination  of  two 
other  candidates,  either  one  of  whom  seemed  this 
morning  to  have  an  equal  chance  with  the  little 
man  from  Alaska. 

89 


90  THE  PRESS. 

This  is  said  to  be  the  first  time  that  a  home 
missionary  has  sat  in  the  Moderator's  chair. 
While  Dr.  Jackson  has  never  been  around  the 
world,  in  the  tourist's  sense,  he  has  traveled  in 
the  pursuit  of  his  missionary  duties  a  distance 
equal  to  twenty-five  circuits  of  the  earth,  600,000 
miles  being  placed  to  his  credit,  and  this  not  in 
Pullman  sleepers  and  high-priced  staterooms  on 
ocean  greyhounds,  but  on  Indian  ponies,  in 
Alaskan  canoes,  on  mountain  stages,  across  the 
desert,  sleeping  on  the  ground  or  finding  a  bed  in 
the  snow  or  tossing  in  a  canoe  on  the  waves  of 
the  Northern  Pacific. 

Dr.  Jackson's  nomination  to-day  was  made  by 
an  elder  from  a  country  church  in  some  mission 
field  in  Wisconsin,  and  seconded  by  a  home 
missionary  and  by  Dr.  Spining,  of  New  Jersey. 
Dr.  Spining  knows  more  about  home  mission 
work  than  almost  any  other  commissioner  from 
the  eastern  part  of  the  country,  and  his  speech 
to-day  was  full  of  pathos,  humor  and  praise  for 
the  heroic  missionars'. 


[Chicago  Times-Herald,  May  22,  1897,] 

"  \Y/^L^  ^^^^^  ^^  ^^®  Sierras."     "  The  Buffalo 

W       Bill     of     Presbyterianism    in     the    wild 

West."     Such  are  two  of  the  cognomens 

of    Rev.    Dr.    Sheldon    Jackson,    who   has    been 


THE  PRESS.  91 

elected  Moderator  of  the  Presbyterian  General 
Assembl5\  From  the  rough  and  ready  mission- 
ary work  in  unknown  and  untried  fields  to  the 
position  of  Moderator  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States  is  a  far  cry.  Yet  there  is  not 
a  Presbyterian  in  the  country  who  will  say  that 
Dr.  Jackson  has  not  earned  this  high  position,  not 
only  because  of  his  work  in  building  up  the 
Church,  but  because  of  the  learning  which  years 
of  toil  far  away  from  civilization  have  not  been 
able  to  dull.  The  career  of  the  new  Moderator 
has  been  similar  to  that  of  the  brave  pioneer 
who  fought  his  way  through  virgin  forests  and 
through  hostile  bands  of  Indians  in  the  early  days 
of  the  West's  awakening.  His  w^as  in  the 
religious  field,  however,  while  the  pioneers  fought 
for  home  and  comfort. 

To  Presbyterians  Dr.  Jackson  is  the  rough 
heroic  figure  of  the  century.  He  is  the  pioneer 
of  the  Church,  the  man  who  has  done  more 
riding  for  Christianity  and  who  has  won  more 
fights  for  Presbyterianism  than  any  other  mem- 
ber of  the  Church.  He  is  of  the  militant  type. 
No  minister  in  the  Church  can  show  such  a 
record  as  can  Dr.  Jackson.  He  has  organized 
hundreds  of  churches.  In  some  cases  the  seed 
has  fallen  on  barren  rock  and  after  a  brief  season 
of  bloom  has  perished  in  the  burning  sun.  But  a 
hundred  churches,  some  of  immense  influence, 
flourish  exceedingly,  owing  only  a  large  debt  of 


92  THE  PRESS. 

gratitude  to  the  wild  rider  of  the  Sierras.  Afoot, 
on  horseback,  any  way  to  get  there,  he  went  and 
left  a  trail  of  Presbyterianism  behind  him  in  the 
West.  His  presence  in  a  region  was  recognized 
by  a  trail  of  dust  in  the  air  raised  by  the  heels  of 
his  bucking  broncho. 

Dr.  Jackson  was  born  at  Minaville,  N.  Y.,  in 
1834.  He  was  graduated  from  Union  College  in 
1855  and  from  Princeton  Theological  Seminary  in 
1858.  He  was  ordained  in  the  same  year  and 
chose  Texas  as  his  field.  His  wife  went  with 
him,  but  he  was  soon  taken  away  from  Texas  and 
sent  to  western  Wisconsin  to  build  up  the  Church 
there.  During  a  part  of  1863  he  served  under 
the  Christian  Commission  in  the  army  hospitals  in 
Tennessee  and  Alabama.  His  rough  riding  for 
Christianity  came  later.  In  1870  he  was  given 
charge  of  nearly  everything  between  the  Missis- 
sippi and  the  setting  sun.  He  was  appointed 
superintendent  of  missions  for  Iowa,  Nebraska, 
Dakota,  Wyoming,  Montana  and  Utah.  All  he 
could  do  then  was  to  engage  three  missionaries  to 
help  him.  He  guaranteed  their  support  out  of 
his  own  means.  Within  a  year  he  had  ten  in  the 
field  besides  himself,  and  all  were  paid.  His  field 
was  widened  shortly  afterwards,  for  he  was  made 
superintendent  of  missions  from  Nebraska  to 
Nevada  and  from  Canada  to  Mexico.  This  was 
a  big  commission,  but  the  Presbytery  knew  its 
man. 


THE  PRESS.  93 

During  the  period  of  his  work  in  the  West  Dr. 
Jackson  traveled  605,000  miles  in  whatever  way- 
he  thought  best  and  quickest  in  the  cause  of  the 
Church.  His  career  as  a  pioneer  missionary  was 
remarkable.  He  won  more  people  by  his  rough 
and  ready  simplicity  than  any  other  missionary  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  He  carved  out  the 
West  for  the  Church  while  the  professors  who  are 
now  famous  in  the  Presbytery  were  learning  the 
first  rudiments  of  the  Westminster  Confession. 
Early  in  the  '80s  he  was  sent  to  Alaska,  and  was 
the  first  missionary  to  make  his  appearance  there. 
Here  he  developed  the  talents  of  the  statesman 
and  the  civil  economist.  He  found  no  sort  of 
government  in  Alaska,  and  started  to  lay  the 
beginnings  of  administration.  He  had  a  fight  on 
his  hands  immediately  with  the  corrupt  officials. 
He  was  always  the  most  incessant,  plucky,  cool- 
headed  and  warm-hearted  missionary  that  ever 
rode  a  broncho  or  swam  a  river  to  preach  the 
Gospel.  He  was  made  United  States  agent  for 
education  in  the  far  northern  territory  and  went 
to  work  at  once.  He  found  the  problem  of  star- 
vation awaiting  the  natives.  The  Alaskans  could 
not  get  enough  to  eat,  so  Dr.  Jackson  started  in 
to  feed  the  natives  and  then  to  convert  them. 

Long  before  his  advent  in  Alaska  large  herds 
of  reindeer  used  to  roam  over  the  marshy,  moss- 
covered  tundra  of  the  northern  peninsula.  These 
were     exterminated     by     injudicious     slaughter. 


94  THE  PRESS. 

Walrus,  whale  and  seal  were  also  rapidly  disap- 
pearing owing-  to  the  inroads  of  the  rapacious 
hunters  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
and  it  seemed  only  a  matter  of  a  short  time  when 
the  natives  of  Alaska  would  be  face  to  face  with 
starvation.  In  this  emergency  Dr.  Jackson 
suggested  that  the  Government  should  transport 
from  Siberia  the  domesticated,  reindeer  that  are  to 
the  Siberian  what  herds  of  cattle  are  to  the 
Texan.      Dr.  Jackson's  plan  met  with  favor. 

His  work  in  building  up  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  West,  where  noble  structures  tes- 
tify to  his  arduous  toil  in  behalf  of  the  Church, 
and  his  struggle  in  Alaska  against  corrupt  officials, 
make  Dr.  Jackson  one  of  the  most  prominent  fig- 
ures in  the  Church  to-day.  His  election  as  Mode- 
rator is  considered  as  a  reward  for  the  many  years 
of  toil  in  the  far  West. 


[The  Troy  Daily  Times,  Troy,  N.  Y.,  May  22,  1897.] 

IT  is  a  great  religious  body  that  is  in  session  at 
Winona,  Ind.  The  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  America  represents  a 
vast  body  of  loyal  and  virtuous  citizens.  The 
Presbyterian  Church  has  stood  for  civil  as  well  as 
for  ecclesiastical  liberty  in  this  country  since  Rev. 
Dr.  John  Witherspoon  of  the  College  of  New 
Jersey  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
after  expressing  impatience  at  its  delay  and  until 


THE  PRESS.  95 

the  present  day,  when  ex-President  Benjamin 
Harrison  and  ex- Postmaster  General  Wanamaker, 
as  Presbyterian  elders,  walk  together  down  the 
Assembly's  aisles  to  distribute  the  sacramental 
emblems. 

The  keynote  of  the  present  Assembly  was 
sounded  in  the  sermon  this  week  of  the  retiring 
Moderator,  Rev.  Dr.  Withrow.  He  advocated 
the  abandonment  of  strife  and  the  union  of  hearts 
and  hands  about  the  watchword  Love.  The 
election  of  a  Moderator  emphasized  the  determi- 
nation of  the  Assembly  to  make  deeds  more 
representative  than  declarations  of  belief. 

The  Church  that  places  before  the  country  as 
its  typical  represenative  a  home  missionary  will 
receive  the  approval  of  a  nation  that  judges  of  a 
faith  by  its  works. 


[The  Morning  Tribune,  Altoona,  Pa.,  May  26, 1897.] 

THE  proverbial  Western  windiness  dresses  the 
blue  waters  of  this  beautiful  lake  and  rolls 
up  big  waves  which  break  like  miniature 
surf  on  the  sandy  shore.  The  green  boughs  of 
these  charming  groves  bend  low  and  wave  a  salute 
as  the  long,  close  procession  of  black-coated  men 
representing  the  best  brains  and  warmest  hearts 
in  this  country  wends  its  way  to  the  great  audito- 
rium,   where    the    General    Assembly    holds   its 


96  THE  PRESS. 

sessions,  to  decide  issues  which  shall   determine 
the  Church's  action  and  welfare  for  coming'  years. 

The  auditorium  is  circular,  lighted  and  venti- 
lated on  all  sides,  with  opera  seats  for  2500. 
Over  the  wide,  deep  platform  stretches  the  legend, 
"  109th  General  Assembly."  Beneath  this,  in  his 
official  chair,  holding  the  gavel  of  symbolic 
woods,  presented  to  him  with  a  masterpiece  of 
ex-President  Harrison's  oratory,  sits  the  quiet, 
retiring  little  man,  the  hero  of  a  thousand  adven- 
tures more  thrilling  than  many  of  the  novels  which 
fire  the  blood  of  young  America,  who  sat  with  our 
Birmingham  party  the  other  afternoon  upon  the 
broad  piazza  for  two  hours  relating  a  few  blood- 
curdling experiences  as  calmly  as  one  might 
mention  an  errand  to  the  post  office. 

The  next  day  the  Assembly  arose  en  masse  to 
greet  him,  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson,  as  its  chosen 
Moderator,  conferring  upon  him  the  highest 
honor  in  the  gift  of  the  Church  in  recognition  of 
his  hard  toil  and  much  suffering  in  the  cause. 
When  the  news  was  flashed  over  the  United  States 
each  sad,  discouraged,  overworked  home  mission- 
ary on  the  frontier  raised  his  worn  face  to  the 
heavens  with  a  fervent,  "Thank  God,  Sheldon 
Jackson  will  not  forget  us!" 

The  600  commissioners  representing  the  mem- 
bers occupy  the  front  seats,  and  behind  them,  at 
each  session,  presses  the  great  throng  of  mission- 
aries,  men  and  women,  wives  of  commissioners 


THE  PRESS.  97 

and  other  earnest  workers,  a  matchless  audience. 
Such  intellectual  faces,  such  earnest  eyes,  such 
brain  force,  such  true  consecration  to  God — where 
can  one  find  its  counterpart  save  in  the  General 
Assembly  and  Church  of  the  First  Born,  in  heaven, 
toward  which  their  feet  are  tending. 

Mrs.  H.  H.  Henry. 


[Herald  and  Presbyter,  May  26,  1897.] 

THE  General  Assembly  is  distinctively  a  home 
missionary  Assembly.  The  most  important 
questions  with  which  it  has  to  deal  concern 
the  work  of  the  Boards,  especially  that  of  the 
Home  Board.  The  Moderator,  Dr.  Sheldon  Jack- 
son, is  a  representative  missionary.  His  work  has 
been  in  the  home  field,  and  his  election  is  not  only 
a  testimony  to  the  regard  which  the  Church  has  for 
him,  but  an  evidence  of  its  reviving  interest  in 
the  work  to  which  he  has  devoted  his  life.   .   ,   . 

We  have  heard  a  great  many  good  nominating- 
speeches  in  General  Assemblies,  but  never  a 
succession  of  such  speeches  as  those  proposing  the 
names  of  Dr.  Jackson  and  Dr.  Minton.  There 
was  no  hurrying.  The  speakers  were  picked 
men:  Dr.  Chapman,  Dr.  G.  L.  Spining  ;  Rev.  R. 
M.  Hayes,  of  Oregon;  Dr.  McMillan,  of  Rich- 
mond, O.,  and  Rev.  S.  S.  Palmer,  of  California, 
and  the  Assembly  was  appreciative.  The  entire 
afternoon  session  was  an  oratorical  treat. 


98  THE  PRESS. 

Some  of  the  best  things  said  for  the  different 
benevolent  causes  of  the  Church  have  been  said 
by  men  especially  interested  in,  or  identified  with, 
other  causes.  Home  Missions  was  helped  by  the 
address  of  Dr.  Minton  at  the  Foreign  Missionary 
Conference.  Foreign  Missions  received  a  lift  from 
Dr.  Jackson  in  his  address  accepting  the  Modera- 
torship.  Governor  Mount,  who  has  a  son  in  the 
ministry  and  a  daughter  in  the  foreign  field,  gave 
a  most  admirable  presentation  of  Ministerial  Relief. 
Interest  in  one  cause  does  not  hinder,  but  rather 
helps,  interest  in  other  good  causes. 


[The  Moravian,  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  May  26,  1897.] 

OUR  readers  will  have  been  gratified  to 
observe  in  the  public  prints  that  the  mis- 
sionary services  of  our  friend  Dr.  Sheldon 
Jackson  received  deserved  recognition  in  his 
being  elected  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  at  Winona,  Ind.,  on 
May  2o.  His  unique  career  of  indefatigable 
labor,  from  the  borders  of  Texas  to  Alaska,  in  the 
forefront  as  a  pioneer  and  an  organizer,  and  his 
recent  gift  to  the  cause  of  Christian  education  in 
Utah  render  the  recognition  no  more  than 
deserved. 


THE  PRESS.  99 

[The  ChrisUan  Intelligencer,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  May  26,  1897.] 

ON  the  first  day  of  the  annual  session  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America  at 
Winona  Park,  near  Warsaw,  Ind.,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Sheldon  Jackson,  of  Alaska,  was  elected  the 
Moderator.  Dr.  Jackson  has  served  many  years 
with  great  industry  and  success  as  a  missionary  in 
Alaska. 


o 


[New  York  Independent,  May  27,  J 897.] 

F  course    Dr.     Sheldon    Jackson    won.     The 
reindeer  is  a  swift-footed  runner. 


[Woman's  Home  Missions,  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Delaware,  O.] 

THE     selection     of     this     broad-minded     and 
enterprising  home  missionary  for   Modera- 
tor of  the  late  General  Assembly  (1S97)  is 
only  another  indication  of   the   predominance  of 
the  missionary  influence  in  this  closing  century. 


[New  York  Evangelist,  May  27,  J897.] 

THE  Evangelist  sends  greeting  and  congratu- 
lations to  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson  in  the  chair. 
We  do  not   at  all   disparage  his  excellent 
unsuccessful  opponent;  but  we  know  and  honor 


loo  THE  PRESS. 

Dr.  Jackson  and  feel  justified  in  the  feeling  that 
he  has  come  to  his  own,  and  receives  no  mark  of 
approval    and    confidence    which    his    long    and 
faithful  and    self-denying    service  of   the  Church 
has  not  over  and  over  merited.     Positions  of  this 
kind  go  by  courtesy  often,  by  favor  frequently,  by 
rotation  and  by  sectional  votes  sometimes.      But 
in  raising  Dr.  Jackson  to  the  Moderatorship  the 
Presbyterian     Church     honors     itself     by    doing 
justice   to   one  of   her  truest  servants,  best  mis- 
sionaries,    most    modest    benefactors    and    most 
unselfishly  loyal  sons.     Therefore  the  choice  may 
be  called  an  ideal   one  and  we  hope  it  may  be 
approved  by  the  whole  Church  and  followed  as  a 
precedent  by  other  Assemblies.     We  have  never 
very  highly  approved  the  idea  of  putting  into  the 
Moderatorship  men  who  had  distinguished  them- 
selves in  other  ways  than  in  the  personal  services 
of  the  Church. 

We  have  grand  men  among  us,  men  whom  we 
delight  to  honor  as  citizens  and  whom  we 
devoutly  love  as  brethren  of  Christ.  We  gladly 
vote  for  such  men  for  places  of  trust,  in  which 
they  may  further  distinguish  themselves  and 
serve  the  Church  indirectly  by  so  doing.  When 
the  Church  calls  a  man  to  be  her  highest  repre- 
sentative, it  should  be  one  who  has  not  only 
given  his  all  of  influence  and  service  to  the 
Church,  but  has  by  that  gift  made  the  Church 
preeminently  richer  for  all  time. 


THE  PRESS.  loi 

[New  York  Observer,  May  27,  J897.] 

THE  Rev.  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson,  the  Modera- 
tor of  the  General  Assembly,  now  in 
session  at  Eagle  Lake,  Ind.,  was  born  at 
Minaville,  Montgomery  county,  N.  Y. ,  May  i8, 
1834.  He  was  graduated  from  Union  College, 
N.  Y. ,  in  1855,  and  from  Princeton  Theological 
Seminary,  N.  J.,  in  1858.  In  May  of  that  year 
he  was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of  Albany, 
and  in  the  same  month  was  married  to  Miss  Mary 
Voorhees. 

On  September  16,  1858,  he  and  his  wife  started 
for  Spencer  Academy,  Indian  Territory,  reaching 
there  October  6,  and  remaining  until  the  follow- 
ing spring,  as  missionaries  of  the  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions.  The  climate  affected  his 
health  unfavorably,  and  he  became  a  home 
missionary  for  western  Wisconsin  and  southern 
Minnesota,  1859  to  1864,  with  headquarters  at 
La  Crescent,  Minn. 

In  1863  he  served  under  the  United  States 
Christian  Commission  in  the  army  hospitals  in 
Tennessee  and  Alabama.  In  1864  he  accepted 
the  pastorate  of  the  church  at  Rochester,  Minn., 
and  the  general  oversight  of  the  mission  work  in 
southern  Minnesota,  which  relation  continued 
from  1864  to  1869.  In  1869  the  Presbyteries  of 
Fort  Dodge,  Des  Moines  and  Council  Bluffs 
united  in  commissioning  him  as  superintendent  of 
missions     for     northern     and      western     Iowa, 


I02  THE  PRESS. 

Dakota,  Nebraska  and  "the  regions  beyond," 
comprising  one-fourth  of  the  United  States.     In 

1869  he  removed  his  family  to  Council  Bluffs, 
and  gave  special  attention  to  the  organization  of 
churches  in  western  Iowa,  Nebraska  and  along 
the  Union  Pacific  Railway.  During  the  year, 
unexpectedly  receiving  a  commission  from  the 
Board  of  Domestic  Missions,  as  superintendent  of 
missions  for  the   Rocky  mountain  territories,   in 

1870  he  removed  his  family  to  Denver,  Colo., 
discontinued  his  work  in  Iowa  and  Nebraska,  and 
took  charge  of  the  vast  and  almost  unknown 
region  of  country  along  the  Rocky  mountains, 
from  British  America  to  old  Mexico,  and  covered 
by  the  great  territories  of  Montana,  Wyoming, 
Colorado,  New  Mexico,  Arizona  and  Utah.  He 
remained  in  this  work  until  January,  1882,  when 
he  was  called  by  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
to  the  Mission  House  in  New  York  city,  and 
made  business  manager  of  the  Presbyterian 
Home  Missionary.  Dr.  Jackson's  field  of  work 
being  among  the  exceptional  populations  of  the 
country,  he  became  the  originator  and  one  of  the 
chief  promoters  of  the  "Woman's  Executive 
Committee  of  Home  Missions." 

'^;^  In  1879,  and  again  in  1880,  he  was  com- 
missioned by  the  general  Govei-nment  to  collect 
Indian  children  in  New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  and 
bring  them  to  the  Indian  Training  Schools  at 
Carlisle,     Pa.,    and    Hampton,    Va.     He  >as  a 


THE  PRESS.  103 

commissioner  to  the  General  Assemblies  of  i860, 
'65,  '67,  '70,  '75  and  '80.  He  was  the  pioneer 
minister  organizing  the  first  Presbyterian  mis- 
sions and  churches  in  the  territories  of  Wyoming, 
Montana,  Idaho,  Utah,  Arizona  and  Alaska.  He 
was  the  founder  of  the  Alaskan  Mission;  secured 
the  missionaries,  raised  the  larger  portion  of  the 
funds  for  the  buildings,  and  made  four  visits  to 
the  country  during  the  first  six  years  of  the 
missions.  He  has  traveled  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  miles  in  all  sorts  of  conveyances  under 
all  sorts  of  conditions.  More  than  a  hundred 
churches  owe  their  existence  to  his  labors. 

Dr.  Jackson's  name  will  be  remembered  for 
years  to  come  on  many  accounts,  but  principally 
in  connection  with  the  introduction  of  domestic 
reindeer  into  the  District  of  Alaska.  To  this 
great  undertaking  he  was  moved  by  philan- 
thropic considerations.  The  Eskimo  population 
was  slowly  dying  off  with  starvation.  For 
ages  a  comfortable  living  had  been  secured  from 
the  products  of  the  sea,  principally  the  whale,  the 
walrus  and  the  seal.  The  fish  and  aquatic  birds 
of  the  rivers,  and  the  caribou,  or  wild  reindeer, 
had  supplemented  the  supply.  But  commerce 
robbed  the  people  of  their  natural  resources,  and 
their  extinction  was  only  a  matter  of  time  unless 
a  remedy  could  be  insured.  It  seemed  of  little 
purpose  to  hope  to  establish  the  Gospel  among 
such   people   if    no  way  could   be  suggested  for 


I04  THE  PRESS. 

saving  their  natural  lives.  The  story  of  the 
difficulties  in  the  way  and  of  their  surmountal,  of 
the  initial  success  of  Dr.  Jackson's  scheme  and 
prospects  of  greater  achievements,  is  wonderfully 
interesting.  The  stocking  of  Alaska  with  the 
domestic  reindeer  means  not  only  the  supply  of  a 
new  and  more  permanent  food  supply  for  the 
half-famishing  Eskimo,  but  the  opening  up  of  the 
vast  and  almost  inaccessible  region  of  northern 
and  central  Alaska  to  white  bettlers  and  civiliza- 
tion. The  value  of  the  discovery  of  large  gold 
deposits  on  the  streams  of  Arctic  and  sub-Arctic 
Alaska  is  greatly  enhanced.  The  probable  com- 
mercial results  can  only  be  expressed  in  figures  of 
handsome  proportion. 

Dr.  Jackson's  interest  in  the  work  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  led  him  a  few  years  ago  to 
give  property  valued  at  $50,000,  toward  the  erec- 
tion of  a  Presbyterian  college  near  Salt  Lake 
City.  Many  New  Yorkers  will  recall  his  rous- 
ing address  at  the  home  missionary  rally,  held  in 
Carnegie  Hall  in  March,  1896,  when  President 
Cleveland  occupied  the  chair.  His  enthusiasm 
knows  no  bounds  save  those  set  by  shrewd 
judgment.  His  name  is  held  in  esteem  through- 
out the  whole  denomination,  and,  indeed,  outside 
of  its  borders.  His  appointment  as  Moderator 
will  be  regarded  with  widespread  satisfaction,  and 
the  good  effect  upon  the  cause  of  Home  Missions 
will  be  felt,  not  only  during  the  sessions  of  the 


THE  PRESS.  105 

General  Assembly,  but  long  after  the  echoes  of 
its  meetings  have  died  away  on  the  shores  of 
Eagle  Lake.  His  absolute  lack  of  partisan 
spirit,  his  zeal  and  devotion,  and  his  magnificent 
labors  for  the  Church  are  fittingly  recognized  by 
his  election. 

[Presbyterian  Journal,  Philadelphia,  May  27,  1897.] 

IT  was  without  doubt  because  of  his  eminent 
services  to  the  Church  that  Dr.  Sheldon 
Jackson  was  chosen  to  preside  over  the  One 
Hundred  and  Ninth  General  Assembly.  It  is  as 
a  home  missionary  that  he  has  gained  his  pre- 
eminence, and  he  is  the  first  one  thus  honored. 
From  Princeton  Seminary  he  went  with  his  wife, 
in  1858,  to  Indian  Territory.  The  next  year, 
for  reasons  of  health,  he  removed  to  western 
Wisconsin  and  for  a  number  of  years  did  mis- 
sionary work  there  and  in  southern  Minnesota, 
being  for  a  part  of  the  time  Synodical  Missionaiy 
of  the  latter  section,  where  through  his  efforts 
Presbyterianism  was  widely  and  strongly  estab- 
lished. Later  on  he  was  appointed  Superintend- 
ent of  Missions  for  Northern  and  Western  Iowa, 
Dakota,  Nebraska  and  "the  regions  beyond," 
comprising  one-fourth  of  the  United  States.  In 
1870  he  was  commissioned  by  the  Board  Superin- 
tendent of  Missions  for  the  Rocky  mountain 
Territories  and  removed  to  Denver.  Through  his 
energy,  perseverance  and  endurance  not  only  the 


io6  THE  PRESS. 

first,  but  numerous  missionar)'  churches  were 
organized  in  Colorado,  Wyoming,  Montana, 
Idaho,  Utah  and  Arizona.  Over  one  hundred 
prosperous  churches  are  said  to  owe  their  exist- 
ence to  his  efforts.  Alaska  has  been  the  field  of 
his  latest  labors  and  triumphs,  and  it  has  been 
there  that  he  has  obtained  national  recognition 
and  a  fame  wider  than  his  own  continent.  He 
was  largely  instrumental  in  securing  a  govern- 
ment and  a  common  school  system  for  that  distant 
region.  In  1885  he  became  General  Agent  of 
Education  for  the  United  States  in  Alaska.  In 
September  next  he  will  have  rounded  out  forty 
years  in  the  home  missionary  service  of  the 
Church,  and  it  may  well  be  felt  that  in  honoring 
him  the  General  Assembly  has  honored  the 
Church  of  which  he  has  been  such  a  faithful  and 
efficient  servant. 


[Presbyterian  Journal,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  June  3,  1897.] 

DR.  SHELDON  JACKSON,  the  new  Modera- 
tor, who  by  unwritten  law  was  expected  to 
preach  at  the  morning  service,  gave  instead 
a  thrilling  account  of  the  mission  work  in  Alaska. 
The  keyword  in  all  the  work  of  the  Assembly  is 
missions.  There  were  sharp  debates  on  many 
questions,  but  the  result  reached  in  every  case 
was  nearly  unanimous.  This  shows  that  even 
the  strongest  opponents  of  proposed  action  were 
only  seeking  what  was  the  right  thing  to  be  done. 


A 


THE  PRESS.  107 

[Christian  Herald,  New  York  City,  June  9,  1897.] 

S  announced  in  this  journal  several  weeks 
ago,  a  large  number  of  delegates  to  the 
General  Assembly  went  to  Eagle  Lake, 
Ind.,  intending  to  give  the  highest  honor  in  the 
Church  to  the  distinguished  missionary,  whose 
portrait  appears  in  this  column.  It  was  felt  that 
the  services  he  had  rendered  to  the  Church,  his 
heroic  life  and  his  sublime  consecration  entitled 
him  to  this  distinction,  and  when  his  name  was 
presented  to  the  Assembly,  the  eminent  fitness  of 
the  act  commended  itself  at  once  to  the  delegates. 
The  other  candidates  for  the  honor  were  Prof. 
Henry  C.  Minton,  of  San  Francisco,  and  Dr.  J, 
Wilbur  Chapman,  of  Philadelphia.  The  latter 
gentleman  retired  from  the  contest  and  Dr. 
Jackson  was  elected  by  a  vote  of  313  to  238. 

Dr.  Spining,  who  supported  the  nomination  of 
Dr.  Jackson,  made  a  characteristic  speech  on  the 
merits  of  his  candidate.  He  related  a  dream  of 
meeting  on  the  floor  of  the  Assembly  the  great 
apostle  to  the  Gentiles This  vivid  sugges- 
tion impressed  the  Assembly  and  the  delegates, 
who,  like  the  apostle  in  the  speaker's  dream, 
wished  to  see  the  "missionary  of  the  snows," 
put  him  by  their  votes  in  the  place  where  he 
could  be  seen  of  all  and  gave  him  the  honor  he 
so  richly  deserved. 


io8  THE  PRESS, 

[The  Interior  June  10,  J897.] 

A  LETTER  from  Moderator  Jackson,  June  2, 
on  train,  says,  "  I  am  rushing  along-  for 
Alaska  via  San  Francisco  and  Seattle."  A 
telegram  from  the  Navy  Department  called  him 
to  Washington  during  the  Assembly,  but  he 
answered  that  he  could  not  go  till  his  service  to 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Winona  was  accom- 
plished. He  left  between  suns  on  Friday  night, 
for  Washington.  The  urgency  was  that  the 
Russian  Consul  for  San  Francisco  had  refused 
clearances  to  the  ship  Bear  bound  for  Siberia,  and 
Dr.  Jackson  was  needed  to  clear  the  matter  up. 
This  was  why  he  was  going  with  a  rush  for  San 
Francisco — the  Bear  must  get  out  while  the  ice  is 
loose  in  Behring  sea.  We  suppose  the  Doctor  is 
after  more  reindeer  for  his  Indians.  He  said 
apologetically  in  Winona  that  he  would  be  much 
more  at  home  in  a  kyack  or  a  sledge  than  in  the 
Moderator's  chair,  but  as  everybody  was  satisfied 
with  him  there  he  has  no  reason  for  regrets. 

The  selection  of  a  missionary  for  the  highest 
honor  is  giving  a  great  deal  of  satisfaction  in  and 
out  of  the  Church.  The  Presbyterians  are  rich 
and  powerful,  and  are  therefore  regarded  as 
necessarily  aristocratic.  It  is  regarded  as  having 
been  both  a  graceful  and  a  significant  thing  for 
this  wealthy  and  brainy  Church  to  go  to  a 
missionary  kyack  to  find  a  Moderator. 

If   it  had   not    been   for   the   heritage  of   con- 


THE  PRESS.  109 

troversy  left  over  to  the  Winona  Assembly  as 
unfinished  bad  business  it  would  have  been  one  of 
the  most  evangelical  bodies  that  ever  assembled. 
It  transmitted  to  its  successor  no  trouble  or 
quarrel.  We  did  not  get  all  that  we  wanted  in 
the  way  of  a  harmonious  and  enthusiastic  body  of 
evangelists,  but  the  way  will  be  clear  next  year. 


[New  York  Pilot  June  26,  1897.] 

DR.  SHELDON  JACKSON,  whom  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly 
at  Eagle  Lake,  Ind. ,  chose  as  Moderator,  is 
one  of  the  most  forceful  and  interesting  of  the 
men  whom  the  Church  has  employed  in  the  work 
of  Home  Missions.  His  life  has  been  active  and 
varied,  and  the  greater  part  of  it  has  been  devoted 
to  his  missionaiy  work  in  almost  every  State  and 
Territory  west  of  the  Mississippi.  That  he  is  a 
man  also  of  resources  and  practical  methods  is 
shown  by  his  work  while  General  Agent  of  Educa- 
tion in  Alaska. 

Indeed,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  to  Dr. 
Jackson  Vv'ill  belong  much  of  the  credit  for  the 
influences  which  are  slowly  working  toward  the 
opening  and  awakening  of  that  vast  territory. 

That  the  new  industry  of  reindeer  raising  will 
do  much  to  redeem  the  Alaskan  native  from 
barbarism  and  sloth  seems  as  probable  as  that  the 


no  THE  PRESS. 

new  method  of  transportation  will  do  much  to 
open  up  and  develop  the  vast  resources  of  the 
territory.  When  the  credit  for  the  pioneer  work 
in  the  opening  of  Alaska  to  civilization  comes  to 
be  reckoned  much  of  it  will  have  to  be  given  to 
the  new  Moderator  chosen  by  the  Presbyterians 
at  Eagle  Lake. — Chicago  Record. 


[Treasury  Magazine,  New  York  City,  June,  1897.] 

DR.  JACKSON  was  born  in  Minaville,  N.  Y., 
in  1834,  and  graduated  at  Union  College  in 
1855,  and  at  Princeton  Theological  Seminary 
in  1858.  He  entered  at  once  into  the  most  aggres- 
sive Christian  work,  and  during  the  war  of  the 
Rebellion  was  in  the  service  of  the  United  States 
Christian  Commission.  Upon  the  close  of  the 
war  he  began  his  remarkable  career  as  a  home 
missionary  in  the  new  West;  and  he  has  served 
that  cause  in  almost  every  State  and  Territory 
west  of  the  Mississippi  river,  showing  remarkable 
skill,  as  well  as  devotion,  in  the  organizing  of  new 
work.  In  1877  he  went  to  Alaska,  and  during  the 
twenty  years  past,  his  name  has  become  inden- 
tified  with  that  territory  as  the  father  of  missionary 
and  educational  development.  His  work  in  the 
founding  of  schools,  in  securing  the  effective  help 
of  the  national  Government,  in  the  introduction  of 
reindeer  from  Lapland  and  Siberia,  and  in  cordial 
CO  peration  with  other  religious  missions  besides 


THE  PRESS.  Ill 

those  of  his  own  Church,  has  become  known  the 
country  over.  Besides  hundreds  of  able  addresses, 
he  is  the  author  of  a  number  of  articles  and  books 
upon  Alaska,  and  has  for  several  years  been 
United  States  Commissioner  of  Education  for  that 
Territory.  The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  in  fitting  recognition  of  his  char- 
acter and  work,  elected  him  its  Moderator,  May 
20,  1897. 


[Forward,  Philadelphia,  Pa.] 

THE  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  is  a  strong  and  impressive  body. 
It  is  the  highest  court  of  our  Church,  and 
behind  it  stands  a  noble  and  brilliant  history.  The 
man  who  is  chosen  as  its  Moderator  fills  a  dignified 
and  important  office — the  highest  within  the  gift 
of  the  denomination.  It  was  to  this  place  of  honor 
that  the  Presbyterian  Church,  last  May,  called  the 
Alaskan  missionary  hero.  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson, 
whose  record  meets,  as  has  been  well  said,  "the 
apostolic  tests  of  hardness  endured,  of  life 
imperiled,  of  fidelity  in  the  face  of  imprisonment 
and  death,  of  unwearied  activity,  and  of  splendid 
achievement." 

Forty  years  ago  Dr.  Jackson  was  ordained  to 
the  ministry,  immediately  after  his  graduation 
from  Princeton  Theological  Seminary.  He  tells 
us,  indeed,  that  he  graduated,  was  ordained,  and 


112  THE  PRESS. 

married  within  the  short  space  of  one  month !  He 
and  his  bride  were  ready  for  the  mission  field  at 
once,  but  the  physician  refused  to  give  the  young 
preacher  a  certificate  of  health,  so  that  a  mission 
station  in  Bogata,  S.  A.,  or  Siam,  where  he  had 
hoped  to  go,  was  closed  to  him.  "They  thought 
that  I  was  not  strong,"  he  says,  naively,  "but  I 
had  an  iron  constitution,  with  the  exception  of 
dyspepsia."  When  one  thinks  of  the  great  army 
of  dyspeptics,  who  excuse  themselves  from  duty 
on  account  of  their  malady,  this  sentence  seems 
humorously  heroic. 

Nothing  daunted  by  the  physician's  reports, 
the  young  man  applied  for  work  in  the  Home 
Mission  field,  and  was  sent  to  hold  meetings 
among  the  Choctaws.  In  one  year  he  had  three 
attacks  of  malarial  fever,  and  finally  he  had  to  go 
north,  where  he  settled  in  Minnesota  and  remained 
for  ten  years,  doing  pioneer  work,  commencing 
on  a  salary  of  three  hundred  dollars  a  year.  He 
was  successful  and  was  anxious  to  do  yet  more. 
So  he  offered  to  labor  in  northern  Iowa,  without 
any  salary  at  all.  This  offer  was  accepted,  and 
Dr.  Jackson  went  to  work  with  characteristic 
energy. 

He  organized  missions  for  a  thousand  miles 
around  in  the  new  West  of  that  day.  He 
founded  one  hundred  churches  and  went  East 
and  raised  money  to  support  them.  He  was  in 
advance  of  the  railroads,  and,  as  he  puts  it,  was 


THE  PRESS.  113 

"  fifty  miles  ahead  of  the  locomotive  at  Denver." 
He  staged  it  twice  to  the  Pacific  coast,  besides 
visiting  every  Territory  thoroughly,  traveling 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  miles  in  his  missionary 
labors.  No  wonder  that  in  1877  the  Board 
commissioned  him  as  the  first  missionary  in 
Alaska. 

Of  Dr.  Jackson's  work  in  Alaska  there  is  no 
need  to  write,  for  every  one  knows  his  wonderful 
achievements  there.  Schools,  churches,  converts, 
ministers,  order  and  peace  replacing  degraded 
savagery,  whole  tribes  won  to  the  Gospel,  and 
showing  its  blessed  fruits — these  are  twice-told 
tales  in  every  mission  record.  By  Dr  Jackson's 
energy  and  ability,  the  Eskimos,  in  danger  of 
terrible  famine,  were  saved,  in  1890,  by  the  impor- 
tation of  herds  of  reindeer  from  Siberia.  These 
herds,  now  largely  increased,  are  being  drawn 
upon  by  the  Government  for  the  relief  of  the  gold 
miners  in  the  Klondike;  and  Dr.  Jackson's  expedi- 
tion to  Norway,  last  winter,  at  the  request  and 
expense  of  the  Government,  furnished  more  of 
these  useful  animals  for  the  Yukon  country. 

Few  men  live  to  see  themselves  appreciated  and 
their  work  rewarded  as  Dr.  Jackson's  has  been. 
The  Government  itself  looks  to  him  for  counsel 
and  assistance  in  Alaskan  matters,  and  when 
summoned  to  Washington  a  few  months  ago  his 
advice  was  sought  not  only  by  the  President  and 
other  high  officials  individually,  but  he  was  given 


114  THE  PRESS. 

the  distinguished  honor  of  being  invited  to  meet 
and  confer  with  the  entire  national  cabinet  in 
session. 


[The  Ram's  Horn,  Chicago,  III.,  July  3,  1897.] 

THERE  has  always  existed  in  the  human  mind 
a  peculiar  fascination  for  the  lives  and  deeds 
of  heroes.  And  he  who  performs  valiant 
actions  and  achieves  mighty  results  for  the  cause 
of  Christ  may,  perhaps,  be  called  the  king  of 
heroes.  Such  a  career  as  the  latter  has  been  led 
by  the  pioneer  missionary  of  the  West  and  the 
apostle  of  Alaska,  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson. 

Though  short  in  stature.  Dr.  Jackson  has  a  long 
record  as  a  travleer.  By  stage  and  sledge,  by  boat 
and  canoe,  by  horse  and  rail,  he  has  covered  a 
distance  of  more  than  600,000  miles;  which  means 
that  he  has  followed  a  pathway  equal  in  length  to 
twenty-four  girdles  around  the  globe.  And  this 
is  but  part  of  his  wonderful  work.  He  has 
delivered  over  3000  missionary  addresses.  Has 
established  more  than  100  churches  in  our  land. 
Has  saved  the  Esquimaux  of  Alaska  from  starva- 
tion by  the  importation  of  reindeer  from  Siberia. 
And  just  recently  he  has  been  honored  for  his 
unparalleled  labors  in  the  western  part  of  our 
continent  by  being  elected  Moderator  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
America. 


THE  PRESS.  115 

[The  Church  at  Home  and  Abroad,  September,  1897.] 

THE  portrait  of  this  honored  and  beloved  man 
greeted  our  readers  as  the  frontispiece  to  our 
July  number.    All  our  readers  have  had  op- 
portunity to  read  in  the  daily  or  weekly  papers  the 
address  of   Rev.   Dr.   Spining  on   presenting  his 
nomination. 

It  seems  to  us  that  it  is  an  address  worthy  of  pre- 
servation in  the  permanent  literature  of  the  Church, 
and  we  gladly  give  place  in  our  pages  for  such 
preservation  of  it. 

As  an  oration  it  seems  to  us  to  possess  in  an  un- 
usual degree  the  essential  qualities  of  true  elo- 
quence. Its  value  is  not  chiefly  in  its  exaltation  of 
the  man  whom  it  eulogiges,  but  in  its  vivid  and 
powerful  presentation  of  the  great  Christian  and 
patriotic  enterprise  which  that  man's  career  so  sig- 
nally illustrates.  "True  eloquence,"  said  the 
greatest  of  our  nation's  senatorial  orators,  "must 
be  in  the  man,  in  the  subject  and  in  the  occasion." 
The  real  "subject"  of  this  oration  was  Home 
Missions  ;  the  "occasion"  was  a  conspicuous  op- 
portunity to  exalt  that  theme  before  an  Assembly 
representing  a  great  nation  to  whose  safety  the 
success  of  Home  Missions  is  essential ;  and  "the 
man ' '  (the  orator)  had  the  great  advantage  of 
having  his  subject  visibly  embodied  in  another 
man  "  whose  praise  is  in  the  gospel  throughout  all 
the  churches." 


Ii6  THE  PRESS. 

[The  Converted  Catholic,  New  York  City,  July,  1897.] 

THE  whole  Presbyterian  Church  honored  itself 
by  electing  as  its  Moderator  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Sheldon  Jackson,  the  famous  missionary  of 
Alaska,  at  the  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  in 
Winona,  Indiana,  last  May.  Last  year  we  had  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  Dr.  Jackson  for  the  first  time, 
and,  as  in  the  case  of  General  Grant,  his  chief  char- 
acteristic seemed  to  be  simplicity  of  character.  A 
man  of  apostolic  zeal,  he  is  respected,  honored  and 

loved  by  all  American  Christians The  whole 

Church  of  Christ  in  the  United  States  rejoices 
equally  with  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  honor 
conferred  on  Dr.  Jackson  and  the  recognition  of 
his  faithful,  heroic  service  in  the  work  of  the  Lord. 


[Rev.  "William  H.  Roberts,  D.D.,  LL.  D.,  Stated  Clerk  of  the 

Assembly,  in  **  The  Presbyterian  and  Reformed 

Review"  for  October,  1897.] 

THE  109th  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  in  the  United  States  of  America 
opened  auspiciously  at  Eagle  Lake,  Indiana, 
on  May  20,  with  a  sermon  on  the  text,  "And  above 
all  things  have  fervent  charity  among  yourselves. " 
The  candidates  for  Moderator  were  two  in  num- 
ber, the  talented  young  Professor  of  Systematic 
Theology  in  the  San  Francisco  Theological  Semi- 
nary, the  Rev.    Henry  Collin   Minton,  D.D.,  and    j,..^ 


THE  PRESS.  "7 

that  veteran  and  apostolic  missionary,  Rev.  Shel- 
don Jackson,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  who  for  forty  years 
has  been  a  leader  of  the  Home  Mission  advance 
toward  the  West,  and  now  naturally  hails  from 
Alaska. 

The  election  of  Dr.  Jackson  was  distinctly  a 
recognition  both  of  o-reat  services  rendered  and  of 
the  importance  of  that  branch  of  the  mission  work 
of  our  Church  with  which  he  has  been  so  long  con- 
nected. In  harmony  with  the  opening  sermon,  Dr. 
Jackson  sought  from  Dr.  Minton,  as  well  as  from 
others,  aid  in  the  appointment  of  committees,  and 
his  general  administration  of  the  duties  of  his  high 
office  gave  new  evidence  of  his  possession  both  of 
a  generous  nature  and  large  executive  ability 


PRESENTATIONS 


GAVEL, 
CANE. 


PRESENTATIONS. 


PRESENTATION  OF  GAVEL. 

Address  by  Hon.  Benjamin  Harrison,  Ex-President  of 
the  United  States. 

TITTR.  MODERATOR:  The  Synod  of  Indiana 
J-Vl  has  devolved  on  me  the  pleasant  duty  of 
presenting-  to  you  a  gavel  to  be  used  in 
keeping  order.  You  were  told  by  the  retiring 
Moderator,  when  he  handed  you  the  gavel,  that 
you  would  have  no  use  for  it.  We  hope  you  may 
not,  but  we  desire  that  you  be  equipped  for  all 
emergencies.  The  gentleman  from  Texas  only 
needed  a  revolver  once,  but  he  needed  it  badly  at 
that  time.  In  this  open  country  in  which  this 
Assembly  is  meeting  to  breathe  the  exhilarating 
air  and  enjoy  these  beautiful  grounds  it  may  be 
that  the  emergency  may  come. 

"We  have  here  a  gavel  constructed  entirely  of 
hardwood.  There  is  in  it  a  piece  of  poplar, 
and  I  was  in  doubt  as  to  its  classification.  I 
consulted  my  old  friend,  Dr.  Gray,  of  The 
Interior,  who  knows  all  about  trees,  but  who,   I 

121 


122  PRESENTATIONS. 

believed,  has  never  been  treed  himself,  and  he 
told  me  it  could  be  called  hardwood.  Wood 
easily  converted  into  pulp  would  not  typify  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  It  has  gone  through  many 
hardships,  and  its  fibre  is  stiff,  and  strong,  and 
true. 

**  This  gavel  is  composed  of  oak,  poplar,  black 
walnut,  beech  and  maple.  The  oak  we  may  say 
stands  for  the  Calvinistic  ribs  of  the  Church; 
that  strong  framework  which  has  enabled  it  to 
cross  the  stormy  seas.  Perhaps  the  poplar,  a 
tree  stately  and  magnificent,  may  stand  for  the 
symmetrical  and  orderly  Presbyterian  govern- 
ment which  has  become  a  model  for  civil  govern- 
ment the  world  over.  The  black  walnut  is  a 
tree,  the  timber  of  which  no  one  ever  paints;  no 
one  wants  to  hide  it,  and  varnish  is  an  offense. 
Its  beautiful  lines,  its  fine  shades  of  color,  stand 
for  the  polish,  the  love  for  education,  the  individ- 
uality of  the  Church.  The  beech,  that  beautiful 
tree  which  drops  its  sheltering  arms  until  they 
almost  drink  the  dew  from  the  sod,  may  represent 
the  sheltering,  folding  love  of  the  Church  for  the 
lambs  of  God.  And  the  maple — the  sugar  maple 
— through  the  veins  of  which  there  courses  such 
sweetness,  may  stand  for  our  retiring  Moderator, 
Dr.  Withrow,  or  his  sermon  of  yesterday,  and 
doubtless,  Mr.  Moderator,  when  you  have  com- 
pleted the  year  of  your  duties,  it  may  also  well 
stand   for  you.     It  is   well   for  each  and   all   to 


PRESENTATIONS.  123 

remember,  that  to  get  the  sweetness  out  of  the 
maple  it  has  to  be  boiled  down." 

General  Harrison  then  explained  the  construc- 
tion of  the  gavel,  each  piece  of  wood  in  which  is 
taken  from  some  spot  in  Indiana  memorable  in 
Presbyterian  Church  history.  The  oak  handle 
was  made  from  the  old  log  church  erected  near 
Vincennes  in  1806.  It  was  the  first  Presbyterian 
church  in  Indiana  and  likewise  the  first  Protes- 
tant church.  ' '  The  committee  has  furnished  me 
with  some  mention  of  my  grandfather's  connec- 
tion with  this  church,"  said  the  General,  "which 
it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  go  into." 

The  commissioners  cried  for  him  to  "2:0  on," 
but  General  Harrison  claimed  that  he  had  lost 
the  memoranda.  Finally,  amidst  much  laughter, 
he  produced  them.  Said  he:  "The  record  of 
the  first  year  of  this  church  was  lost,  but  it 
seems  probable  that  my  grandfather  was  one  of 
its  charter  members.  It  is  also  certain  that  my 
father  is  the  first  person  recorded  as  having  been 
baptized  in  the  church. 

"The  piece  of  oak  is  from  timber  taken  from  the 
first  house  erected  for  the  theological  seminary  at 
Hanover  in  1830.  The  institution  was  afterward 
moved  to  New  Albany  and  was  the  mother  of  the 
McCormick  Theological  Seminary.  The  piece  of 
poplar  is  from  one  of  the  desks  used  in  Hanover 
Academy  in  1827.  The  beech  is  from  a  tree 
which  formerly  stood  on  the  campus  of  Wabash 


1 24  PRESENTA  TIONS. 

College  at  Cravvfordsville.  The  black  walnut  is 
from  a  piece  of  furniture  in  the  old  First  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Indianapolis,  erected  in  1823, 
and  the  maple  from  timber  in  the  old  Second 
Church,  in  which  Henry  Ward  Beecher  once 
preached.  The  church  was  erected  in  1838  and  is 
now  being  torn  down. 

"Mr.    Moderator,   these   brief   historical  refer- 
ences to  the  wood  of  this  gavel  will  show  you,  sir, 
that  they  all  have  reference  to  first  things.     It  is 
very  appropriate,  sir,  that  a  gavel  made  from  the 
wood  of  pioneer  churches  and  furnishings  devoted 
to  first  worship  should  be  presented  to  one  whose 
life   has   been   so    much  associated   with   pioneei 
churches.     Does  not  the  story  I  have  told — do  not 
all  the  associations  between  the  life  work  of  the 
Moderator  and  the  gavel  bring  to  us  impressions 
this    morning     in    harmony    with    the    thought, 
already  often  expressed  here,  that  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  should  now  start  forward  in  a  great 
and   earnest  movement   for   the  advancement   of 
missions?     It  does  not  require,  sir,  an  expounder 
of    the   Word    to  understand   why   it  is    that   a 
Church  that  is  all  aglow  with  missionary  zeal  and 
enterprise  should  be  a  growing  Church  also.     It 
is  easy  to  know  why  it  is  so,  because  it  is  living  in 
the  spirit  and  in  the  teachings  of  the  Master,  and 
to  securing  the  fulfillment  of  His  promised  bless- 
ing.    When  we  are  giving  ourselves  to  frescoes 
and  organs  and  cushioned  pews,  we   are  possibly 


PR  E  SENT  A  7  IONS.  1 25 

doing  well.  Taste  may  be  educated,  but  the  heart 
is  not  set  on  fire.  When  work  for  missions  takes 
hold  of  the  Church,  work  for  others  and  for  the 
Master  who  gave  himself  for  us,  it  fills  the  Church 
with  enthusiasm,  and  the  drawing  power  which 
illustrates  that  giving  does  not  impoverish  but 
enriches  and  brings  into  the  contributing 
churches  large  accessions  of  useful  members. 

"  Pardon  me  that  I  have  not  boiled  down  my 
syrup." 

Responding,  Dr.  Jackson  thanked  the  Presby- 
terians of  Indiana  for  this  useful  and  interesting 
memento  of  their  regard  for  the  Assembly  and 
its  Moderator.  He  remembered  the  beginning  of 
the  Church  in  the  State  which  has  grown  to  a 
membership  of  42,000.  He  named  the  pioneers 
and  veterans,  the  heroes  of  his  boyhood  days,  and 
in  conclusion  referred  to  the  interest  General 
Harrison  had  ever  taken  while  President  in  the 
welfare  and  progress  of  Alaska. 

The  Moderator  announced  the  appointment  of 
Hon.  John  Wanamaker  as  Vice-Moderator;  and  a 
little  later  said  that  the  reason  why  ex- President 
Harrison  was  not  named  at  the  head  of  some 
important  committee  was  the  probability  that  he 
would  not  be  able  to  remain  throughout  the 
sessions. 


126  PRESENTATIONS. 

PRESENTATION  OF  A  GOLD-HEADED  CANE. 

"  Seventeenth  Century  to  Nineteenth  Century 
Presbytcrianism  Greeting." 

Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.,  LL.D. : 

THE  Presbyterian  Church  of  Rehoboth,  Md., 
one  of  the  group  of  churches  organized 
near  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century 
by  Rev.  Francis  Makemie,  a  pioneer  Presbyterian 
missionary  of  the  seventeenth  centur}',  on  the 
eastern  coast  of  America,  sends  greeting  and  a 
historical  cane  to  Dr,  Sheldon  Jackson,  a  pioneer 
missionary  of  the  nineteenth  century  on  the 
western  coast. 

This  cane  is  made  of  wood  from  Makemie's  old 
pulpit  in  the  church  at  Rehoboth,  Md. ,  cut  in 
times  before  the  Revolutionary  War.  The 
church  in  which  it  stood  was  organized  in  the 
days  when  King  Charles  II  ruled  over  the  land, 
and  only  thirty-five  years  after  the  Assembly 
at  Westminster  had  sent  forth  our  Confession  of 
Faith  and  Catechisms. 

Very  truly  yours, 

Emerson  G.  Polk, 
Ruling  Elder  of  Presbyterian 
Church,  Rehoboth,  Md.;  Com- 
missioner of  Presbytery  of  New 
Castle  to  General  Assembly  of 
1898. 


J3P7 


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